HEB Colloquium: "Modern Human Origins and Dispersal: Fossil and Genomic Perspectives"

Date: 

Monday, February 25, 2019, 4:00pm to 5:15pm

Location: 

Haller Hall, Geological Museum Room 102, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA

Dr. Hugo Reyes-Centeno

 

Scientific Coordinator, DFG Center for Advanced Studies “Words, Bones, Genes, Tools”, University of Tubingen

 

Despite consensus on the emergence of modern humans in Africa and their subsequent dispersal into the rest of the world, the mode and timing of these processes remain controversial topics. In addressing them, data on human anatomical and genomic variation have sometimes generated conflicting inferences. Therefore, approaches that consider both lines of evidence in a common evolutionary framework are important for reconciling our knowledge of the human past. In this talk, I highlight my research testing competing models of the modern human out-of-Africa process, which applies quantitative genetic and population genetic methods to anatomical and genomic data. I show that patterns of variation between populations support multiple modern human dispersals out of Africa. I discuss the caveats of these conclusions, including the influence of admixture between modern humans and other hominins. Furthermore, I examine how these findings align with the known human fossil record and a growing inventory of ancient genomes. Finally, I review how my ongoing field and laboratory projects in Eastern Africa, Southeast Asia, and South America shed light on human evolution, adaptations, and dispersals.