In this contribution I will review the development of ideas about a recent African origin for our species over the last 50 years, starting from the time of my PhD in the early 1970s. I will examine the instructive and quite different interpretations placed on the 1979 discovery of a partial Neanderthal skeleton associated with a Châtelperronian industry at the rock shelter of St-Césaire in France, and then focus on the crucial years from 1987-1989, including the so-called 'Human Revolution' conference of 1987, and my 1988 Science paper with Peter Andrews: 'Genetic and Fossil Evidence for the Origin of Modern Humans'. Following the historical review, I will assess the status of five proposed models for the evolution of derived Homo sapiens: Recent African Origin (RAO); RAO and Hybridisation (RAOH); Assimilation (AM); Multiregional Evolution (MRE); and Braided Stream (BS). I conclude that a recent African origin model with hybridization (RAOH) is the best supported from the fossil and genetic evidence.

中文翻译：

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关于智人最近非洲起源的想法的发展。

在这篇文章中，我将回顾过去 50 年来关于我们物种最近的非洲起源的想法的发展，从 1970 年代初期我的博士学位开始。我将研究对 1979 年在法国 St-Césaire 的岩石避难所发现的与 Châtelperronian 工业相关的部分尼安德特人骨骼的启发性和截然不同的解释，然后重点关注 1987 年至 1989 年的关键年份，包括所以-称为 1987 年的“人类革命”会议，以及我 1988 年与彼得安德鲁斯的科学论文：“现代人类起源的遗传和化石证据”。在历史回顾之后，我将评估五个拟议的智人进化模型的状态：最近的非洲起源（RAO）；RAO 和杂交 (RAOH)；同化（AM）；多区域演变（MRE）；和辫流 (BS)。我的结论是，最近的非洲起源杂交模型 (RAOH) 得到了化石和遗传证据的最佳支持。