Fossil Evidence

For example, analyses of fossil crania point to an African origin for modern humans, and evidence from collections of stone tools lead to similar conclusions [Boyd & Silk 1997] , pp 490-493.

However, a Homo sapiens skull found in China, dated at 200,000 years old, is evidence for the "multiregional" model [Chen et al. 1994] due to its great age and resemblance to other specimens from Asia dated around the same period.

It is also interesting that some of the first Homo erectus fossils were found in China but whether they evolved there, or migrated there from Africa, is a contentious issue.

Often, the same fossil can be interpreted in different ways depending on the opinions of the authors, and the current situation is that the final fossil evidence does not give unambiguous support for either the "out of Africa" or "multiregional" model.