论文标题：Deciphering African late middle Pleistocene hominin diversity and the origin of our species

期刊：Nature Communications

作者：Aurélien Mounier ,Marta Mirazón Lahr

发表时间：2019/09/10

数字识别码： 10.1038/s41467-019-11213-w

微信链接：https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/V55jAbp6TriPwiv_X-87gg

本周《自然-通讯》发表的一篇论文Deciphering African late middle Pleistocene hominin diversity and the origin of our species 介绍了可能为所有现代人类最后共同祖先的虚拟头骨模型。这项研究或能为认识智人复杂的演化提供一定见解。

图1：用来建模的29个人类种群 图源：Aure?lien Mounier CNRS-MNHN

法国国家科学研究中心的Aurélien Mounier和Marta Mirazón Lahr研究了263块头骨——代表21个当前人类种群和5个化石古人类种群，他们采用系统发生模型方法重建了所有现代人类最后共同祖先的虚拟头骨，之后将虚拟“化石”和来自中更新世晚期（大约35万-13万年前）的5块非洲古人类化石做比较，以评估这些化石所属的种群在智人的起源中可能发挥什么作用。

图2：按假设1合成的人类最后共同祖先头骨 图源：Aure?lien

作者认为这些谱系对智人起源的贡献并不均等。他们的研究结果支持这样一种观点：智人可能联合起源于非洲南部以及东部的人类种群，而不太可能起源于非洲北部，因为他们研究的其中一块化石——Irhoud 1——在形态上更接近尼安德特人。

摘要：The origin of Homo sapiens remains a matter of debate. The extent and geographic patterning of morphological diversity among Late Middle Pleistocene (LMP) African hominins is largely unknown, thus precluding the definition of boundaries of variability in early H. sapiens and the interpretation of individual fossils. Here we use a phylogenetic modelling method to predict possible morphologies of a last common ancestor of all modern humans, which we compare to LMP African fossils (KNM-ES 11693, Florisbad, Irhoud 1, Omo II, and LH18). Our results support a complex process for the evolution of H. sapiens, with the recognition of different, geographically localised, populations and lineages in Africa – not all of which contributed to our species’ origin. Based on the available fossils, H. sapiens appears to have originated from the coalescence of South and, possibly, East-African source populations, while North-African fossils may represent a population which introgressed into Neandertals during the LMP.

（来源：科学网）