The prehistoric human diaspora

THE PROBLEM: HUMAN REMAINS FROM HOMO ERECTUS INDICATE THAT THESE EARLY HUMANS WERE ESTABLISHED IN MANY LOCATIONS WORLDWIDE, ABOUT 1.5 TO 1.9 MILLION YEARS AGO. FURTHER GENETIC EVIDENCE HAS ESTABLISHED THAT THERE WAS INTERACTION BETWEEN AFRICAN AND ASIAN POPULATIONS.

THE BASIC OUT OF AFRICA THEORY HOLDS THAT HOMO ERECTUS AND LATER HOMO SAPIENS LEFT AFRICA IN WAVES CROSSING INTO ASIA AND EUROPE. H. ERECTUS SUPPOSEDLY LEFT AFRICA 1.5 MILLION YEARS AGO, AND H.SAPIENS 100,000 YEARS AGO.

It will be obvious that the problem and the theory don’t have much in common except referring to the same species and the same planet. Professionals please bear with some glaringly obvious statements while I make this argument.

Matters are not noticeably improved by the fact that H. Erectus seems to have been everywhere he was supposed to be “going”, nearly half a million years before he’s supposed to have left. Perhaps the theory needs some work.

A further possibility is that the Asians were the ancestors of at least some of the others, including one of the Africans. That raises one or two issues, too. Just to complicate things, apparently “out” of Africa wasn’t the general theme of some of the early humans. They went to Algeria and Morocco, probably for no other reason than to annoy anthropologists, but they went there.

I have no desire or intent to denigrate the decades of hard work that went into making these discoveries. Quite the opposite. I think the theories are now a poor testimony for the work.

Inevitably, as more information arises, theories get cluttered. Logic gets stuck on details which may or may not be in the correct context(s). Let’s try another approach:

(1) The animal in question is a new-ish form of life, a go-anywhere/eat anything, species.

(2) Going anywhere and eating anything, in the prehistoric environment, was a very dangerous process. Long distances increased risks. New food types, poisonous plants, dangerous animals, the dangers are both plentiful and serious, and mistakes can do terrible things to small groups.

(3) The constraints on the movement of any living thing are food and above all water.

(4) Viable populations, able to move or expand for any length of time, must have conditions in which they can prosper. Population growth indicates that H. Erectus was a very successful breeder. Therefore they must have been able to maintain themselves well, and make their operational ranges effective.

(5) Physical obstacles,