Anatomically Modern Humans

To be anatomically modern is in many ways what makes us unique and “evolved” among our earlier ancestors. It's our anatomical makeup that allows us to be advanced. From large brains that help facilitate our complex language systems to our opposable thumbs that allow us to do work with our hands in both manual labor as well as fine motor skills like writing or typing, these anatomical features among others are pivotal in what it means to be a modern human.

Anatomically modern humans were found in more than one location across the globe (Europe, Asia and Africa) which has led scientists to formulate two different theories as to why this is. The first is the regional continuity model and the replacement model (with some variations on this model). The multiregional continuity model says that the earliest H. sapiens in the Pleistocene didn't originate only in Africa and also says that as a result of “gene flow” the early population spread out geographically. Because of natural selection, the population would have evolved with each other rather than completely separate and a certain amount of mixing would have taken place. This would mean that all the hominins that evolved after H. erectus would be classified as H. sapiens in a single species. The theory still maintains that likely humans came from Africa first, but not exclusively. Recent data doesn't really support this theory as it's widely thought that this model doesn't really give us any useful information about modern human origins or migration.

The second theory, the replacement model, says that the first modern humans evolved in Africa and then migrated to other geographical locations across the world where they replaced the current hominin population (Neanderthals...

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...rome), and a myriad of other possible variations that one can inherit or adopt in their lifetime as not all variations occur biologically (you can dye your hair pink, but you won't be born with it).

Variation among humans is what makes us a unique species and culturally, we strive to support, accept and thrive in our uniqueness. Some variations such as skin color have in the past been seen as negative and even segregated and hated, but we are now slowly making cultural progress to accept these human variations and to understand and accept that there are no two people alike on the planet and we need to embrace this part of our evolutionary history and relish our variations that make us each our own individual human being.

Works Cited

Jurmaln, R., Kilgore, L., & Trevathan, W. (2011). Essentials of physical anthropology. (9th ed., p. 5). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.