Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30007846›Full record

ArticleTrends in ecology & evolution2018

Did Our Species Evolve in Subdivided Populations across Africa, and Why Does It Matter?

Eleanor M L Scerri, Mark G Thomas, Andrea Manica, Philipp Gunz, Jay T Stock, Chris Stringer, Matt Grove, Huw S Groucutt, Axel Timmermann, G Philip Rightmire and 13 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Trends in ecology & evolution, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 107 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
107citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

107 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Pan-African model explainsbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
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  12. Reconciling Species Concepts: An Ecological Perspective.American journal of biological anthropology · 2025
    Article
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47 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

23 authors.

Eleanor M L ScerriSchool of Archaeology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3TG, UK; Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Street 10, D-07745 Jena, Germany. Electronic address: eleanor.scerri@rlaha.ox.ac.uk.
Mark G ThomasResearch Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, and University College London (UCL) Genetics Institute, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
Andrea ManicaDepartment of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK.
Philipp GunzDepartment of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany.
Jay T StockDepartment of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Pembroke Street, Cambridge, CB2 3DZ, UK; Department of Anthropology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada.
Chris StringerDepartment of Earth Sciences, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK.
Matt GroveDepartment of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool, 12-14 Abercromby Square, Liverpool L69 7WZ, UK.
Huw S GroucuttSchool of Archaeology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3TG, UK; Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Street 10, D-07745 Jena, Germany.
Axel TimmermannCenter for Climate Physics, Institute for Basic Science, Busan, South Korea; Pusan National University, Busan, South Korea.
G Philip RightmireDepartment of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Francesco d'ErricoCentre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Unité Mixte de Recherche (UMR) 5199 PACEA (De la Préhistoire à l'actuel: Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie), Université de Bordeaux, Bâtiment B18, Allée Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, CS 50023, F-33615 Pessac CEDEX, France; Senter for Fremragende Forskning (SFF) Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Øysteinsgate 3, Postboks 7805, 5020, Bergen, Norway.
Christian A TryonDepartment of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Nick A DrakeGeography, King's College London, Strand, London, WC2R 2LS, UK.
Alison S BrooksDepartment of Anthropology, Center for Advanced Study of Hominid Paleobiology, The George Washington University, 2110 G Street North West, Washington, DC 20052, USA.
Robin W DennellDepartment of Archaeology, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.
Richard DurbinDepartment of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EH, UK; Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, UK.
Brenna M HennDepartment of Anthropology and the Genome Center, University of California, Davis, CA 95616 USA.
Julia Lee-ThorpSchool of Archaeology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3TG, UK.
Peter deMenocalDepartment of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, 61 Route 9 West, Palisades, NY 10964-1000, USA.
Michael D PetragliaDepartment of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Street 10, D-07745 Jena, Germany.
Jessica C ThompsonDepartment of Anthropology, Emory University, 1557 Dickey Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
Aylwyn ScallyDepartment of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EH, UK.
Lounès ChikhiLaboratoire Évolution & Diversité Biologique (EDB UMR 5174), Université de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées, CNRS, IRD, UPS. 118 route de Narbonne, Bat 4R1, 31062 Toulouse cedex 9, France; Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, P-2780-156, Oeiras, Portugal.

Funding

Wellcome Trust 100719/Z/12/ZWellcome Trust 207492/Z/17/ZWellcome Trust WT206194Wellcome Trust WT207492
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

We challenge the view that our species, Homo sapiens, evolved within a single population and/or region of Africa. The chronology and physical diversity of Pleistocene human fossils suggest that morphologically varied populations pertaining to the H. sapiens clade lived throughout Africa. Similarly, the African archaeological record demonstrates the polycentric origin and persistence of regionally distinct Pleistocene material culture in a variety of paleoecological settings. Genetic studies also indicate that present-day population structure within Africa extends to deep times, paralleling a paleoenvironmental record of shifting and fractured habitable zones. We argue that these fields support an emerging view of a highly structured African prehistory that should be considered in human evolutionary inferences, prompting new interpretations, questions, and interdisciplinary research directions.

Indexed as

Biological EvolutionAfricaAnimalsArchaeologyEcosystemFossilsGenetics, PopulationGeographyHominidaeHumansAfrican originsevolutionary geneticshuman evolutionMiddle Stone Agepaleoanthropologypaleoecology

Identifiers

PMID30007846
PMCPMC6092560

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.