How would you compare multiregional hypothesis with Eve (replacement) hypothesis?

Question

Could you explain how these two hypothesis differ in terms of their:

fossil & archaeological evidence

molecular evidence

implications for genetic diversity of modern humans

anagensis or cladogenesis?

I'm assuming that the replacement theory deals with cladogenesis - speciation (splitting into branches) - because homo sapiens sapiens replaced the preexiting hominids (such as neanderthals & H. erectus)

Thanks :)

Answer 1

Anthropologists agree that Sapien came out of Africa as did erectus... up until about 2 million yrs ago we have  parallel hypothesis on this. The main disagreement centers on when sapien left Africa & wheather they bred with more archaic lines of Homo living in Asia & Europe.

MtDNA was hailed as the nail in the coffin of the regional hypothesis when the mitochondrial eve hypothesis came to the forefront... however, discoveries at Mungo lake (Mungo man) in Australia & sequencing of the MtDNA cast serious doubts on the mitochondrial Eve hypothesis.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/slab/mungo...

Some view Mungo man as an erectus/sapien (skeleton indicates he is sapien ~ 6' 3" tall) hybrid that appears to be sapien, but is closer to neandertal's MtDNA than sapiens.  This one discovery has caused much debate over when sapien left Africa & why his DNA is so different from sapien's. Recent "redating" of the fossil has established an age of ~40 to 42,000 yrs ago for the fossil & ~50,000 yrs ago for artifacts found around lake Mungo.

At issue here is wheather fossils that appear to be neandertal or erectus hybrids are truely hybrids or simply sapiens that fall outside the norm of sapien. Some genes (MCPH1 being one) suddenly appear in the Mid East or Asia & test as being more than  million yrs old, these are said to be indicative of neandertal to sapien gene introgression.

http://www.johnhawks.net/weblog/reviews/...

The arguement over replacement or regional development will not be settled until we manage to sequence both neandertal & erectus genomes. Many argue that Homo did not develop differing species that could not interbreed because much more time was required to create differing species. They point to canids & the bonobo/chimp abilities to breed & produce fertile offspring... thus suggesting some degree of "gene introgression" among differing Homo.