Whats the fossil evidence for the "Complete Replacement Model" and the "Regional Continuity Model"? (human ev)

Question

This question pertains to two theories of modern human origins. I have already compared and contrasted them, but I do not know the fossil evidence for each. What I'm looking for is in the general sense, but specifics are welcome too. Thanks!

Answer 1

Mungo man, discovered near what was once Mungo Lake in Australia, appears to be a modern human & has been dated from 42,000 to 66,000 yrs old.  However MtDNA tests indicate Mungo man is not descended from the mitrochondrial eve that evolved in Africa some 140,000 yrs ago. Some think Mungo man's DNA is more closely related to neandertal than to modern humans... therefore lending some evidence to the regional development hypothesis. Many subscribing to this hypothesis think that gene drift from the modern sapien simply overwhelmed the early population of Asia & Australia, but other genes prevailed and are present today.  Mungo man is not an ancestor of present day native Australians.

Several fossiles found in Spain & Portagual (other locations too), appear to be neandertal/sapien hybrids. Eric Trinkaus and John Hawks are supporters of this hypothesis.

Homo erectus, below the neck, is within the modern sapien range... being slightly more robust of bone.  Therefore, unless the skull is found, as in Mungo man, they are likely to be mis classified. DNA tests do indicate an out of Africa migration of all modern humans... the question is: Did they breed with Homo erectus & Neandertal.

Answer 2

Very broad topic so I'll give you some general charcteristics

China: H. erectus have traits of modern chinese populations like flat cheeks, round foreheads, and shovel shaped incisors (MR). The problem is that all of these traits are primitive to H. erectus from other parts of the world and that early H. sapiens in China resemble archaic African hominins more than H. erectus from China (SO).

Middle East: Neanderthals found at the same time as H. sapiens. This shows that neanderthals did not just evolve into H. sapiens.

Europe: Neanderthals share some facial characteristics as modern europeans, but neanderthals found have very derived traits that become increasingly more different from humans with time instead of becoming increasingly more human.

Africa: Transition fossils are found. This supports both hypotheses.

In general, the only transition fossils from H. ergaster/erectus to humans are found in Africa. This largely supports the single origin hypothesis over the multiregional hypothesis.