Abstract Palaeoanthropologists and archaeologists have advanced a wide range of explanatory
narratives for the various movements of Homo erectus/Homo ergaster, and the
first modern Homo sapiens, “Out of Africa”—or even back again. The application of
Occam’s razor—a parsimonious approach to causes—gives a more cautious approach. There
is nothing in the available evidence that would require the ability for a human water crossing
from Africa before the later Pleistocene, whether across the Strait of Gibraltar, the Sicilian
Channel or the southern Red Sea (Bab el-Mandab). A parsimonious narrative is consistent
with movements across the Sinai peninsula. The continuous arid zone from northern Africa
to western Asia allowed both occupation and transit during wet phases of the Pleistocene;
there is no requirement for a “sponge” model of absorption followed by expulsion of human
groups. The Nile Valley as a possible transit route from East Africa has a geological chronology
that could fit well much current evidence for the timing of human migration. The limited
spatial and temporal opportunities for movements “Out of Africa,” or back again, also puts
particular difficulties in the way of the gene flow required for the multiregional hypothesis
of the development of modern Homo sapiens.
Abstract Palaeoanthropologists and archaeologists have advanced a wide range of explanatory
narratives for the various movements of Homo erectus/Homo ergaster, and the
first modern Homo sapiens, “Out of Africa”—or even back again. The application of
Occam’s razor—a parsimonious approach to causes—gives a more cautious approach. There
is nothing in the available evidence that would require the ability for a human water crossing
from Africa before the later Pleistocene, whether across the Strait of Gibraltar, the Sicilian
Channel or the southern Red Sea (Bab el-Mandab). A parsimonious narrative is consistent
with movements across the Sinai peninsula. The continuous arid zone from northern Africa
to western Asia allowed both occupation and transit during wet phases of the Pleistocene;
there is no requirement for a “sponge” model of absorption followed by expulsion of human
groups. The Nile Valley as a possible transit route from East Africa has a geological chronology
that could fit well much current evidence for the timing of human migration. The limited
spatial and temporal opportunities for movements “Out of Africa,” or back again, also puts
particular difficulties in the way of the gene flow required for the multiregional hypothesis
of the development of modern Homo sapiens.
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