Human evolution: savannah theory fading (Introduction)

by dhw, Tuesday, March 04, 2025, 11:49 (1 day, 21 hours, 14 min. ago) @ David Turell

Savannah theory fading

DAVID: The argument is did savannahs force sapiens evolution? What I presented says 'no'.

dhw: What you presented says no such thing. It only tells us that sapiens lived and mated in forests as well as elsewhere, and did so earlier than we thought. But perhaps you have left out a passage which rejects the savannah theory?

DAVID: This quote might help you:

"The new findings also strengthen an argument that H. sapiens evolved roughly 300,000 years ago via mating among populations based in different African regions and habitats, including West Africa’s rainforests. Even around 150,000 years ago, “when these groups coalesced, their exchanges shaped the course of our evolution and likely contributed to the success of our species,” Scerri says."

dhw: So who mated with whom to produce the brand new species? This quote suggests that 300,000 years ago, different non-sapiens mated in different regions and habitats and all of these different non-sapiens produced the same sapiens, who 150,000 years ago mated with various non-sapiens, thus contributing to the success of sapiens. Does that make sense to you?

DAVID: Sapiens appeared 300,000 years ago, just as Neanderthals did ~600,000 years ago. All new forms simply appear. The interspecies mating helped make the sapiens we know. I don't understand your problem.

You claim that the savannah theory is “fading”. The savannah theory, as if you didn’t know, is that sapiens originated when a group of apelike creatures descended (for whatever reason) from African trees and took to life on the grassy plains. I needn’t go into the details concerning the advantages of bipedalism and all the later refinements. The articles you have presented here give no indication whatsoever of how the new species might have formed, and you are even claiming that “new forms simply appear” as if there was no possible reason for them doing so. Your scepticism is perhaps due to your conviction that your God created species “de novo” (despite your agreement that evolution happened), but of course that leaves you floundering when you wonder why he bothered with evolution in the first place if his only purpose was to produce sapiens and our food. The next article simply extends the range of the previous ones:

How we spread out of Africa
QUOTE: "The accepted ideas about human evolution today are the "Out of Africa" theories, which propose that H. sapiens evolved in Africa and spread to the other continents, sometimes displacing or mating with other members of the Homo genus — known as hominins — as they did so."

Your previous articles told us how we spread around Africa “via mating among populations in different African regions and habitats, including West Africa’s rainforests.” No indication at all about how we originated, and therefore no case made against the savannah theory.