WANG Chuanchao, LI Hui

MOE Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433 China

FIRST PARAGRAPH: There has been a debate on the origin of anatomically modern humans. One side, supported by the Geneticists and now more from other fields, suggested an “out-of-Africa” replacement model, assuming that ancestors of modern humans evolved in Africa, and spread and replaced all other hominids subsequently. The other side, which has been insisted by some paleoanthropologists, suggested the multiregional model claims that a gradual transition from Homo erectus to modern humans took place on different continents in the Old World. There are also some intermediate models, acknowledging an African origin of modern humans but with some contribution from other archaic hominids outside Africa.