multiregional evolution

…core of the so-called “multiregional” hypothesis (see human evolution), in which it is theorized that H. erectus evolved into Homo sapiens not once but several times as each subspecies of H. erectus, living in its own territory, passed some postulated critical threshold. This theory depends on accepting a supposed…

In this so-called “multiregional” scenario, Australian Aboriginals are derived from Java man (i.e., Javanese H. erectus), modern Chinese from Peking man (Chinese H. erectus), today’s Europeans from the Neanderthals (H. neanderthalensis) with some admixture from Cro-Magnons, and so on.

At one extreme is multiregional evolution, or the regional continuity model. At the other is the African replacement, or “out of Africa,” model. Intermediate are the African hybridization-and-replacement model and the assimilation model. All but the multiregional model maintain that H. sapiens evolved solely in Africa and then deployed…