人類進化過程有新説法

Last month the Yomiuri News on-line reported the following:

「ヒト祖先は同一種」の新説…進化過程見直しも

　【ワシントン＝中島達雄】これまで複数種がいたとされてきた、原人（ホモ・エレクトス）などの「初期ホモ（ヒト）属」と呼ばれる現代人の祖先が、実は同一種だったとする新説を、グルジア国立博物館や米ハーバード大の国際研究チームが１８日付の米サイエンス誌に発表した。

　同国で２０００年ごろから相次いで見つかった約１８０万年前の人骨の分析で判明した。

　初期ホモは、アフリカを出た最初の人類。種の分類の見直しは、私たち現代人の進化や拡散の考え方にも見直しを迫る。

　研究チームは、グルジアのドマニシ遺跡で見つかった５体の初期ホモの頭骨などを分析。５体と、約２００万年前のアフリカにいた「ホモ・ハビリス」や「ホモ・ルドルフェンシス」は、同じホモ・エレクトスと結論した。５体の頭部や顔、歯などの個体差からみると、アフリカの２種との違いは別種と呼べるほど大きくないという。

（2013年10月19日21時00分 読売新聞）

 (試譯文)

     About the ancestor of the modern human the so called "Early Homo (human) genus" which had so far been said to have two or more kinds, such as the primitive man (Homo erectus), an international research team from the Georgia National Museum and from the U.S. Harvard University announced a new theory in the U.S. Science magazine dated the 18^th (October) that they were supposed to be of the same kind in fact.

     It was made clear by an analysis of the human bones dated about 1,800,000 years ago being successively found in the country since around the year 2000.

     Early Homo was the first human beings who came out of Africa. While reviewing the classification of species, it also required to review the idea on the ​​diffusion and evolution of modern human.

    A research team analyzed the skulls etc. of five Early Homo bodies found in the Domanishi site in Georgia. Regarding these five bodies, it was concluded that they were Homo erectus, same as the "Homo habilis" and the "Homo rudolfensis" which were present in Africa about 2 million years ago. By looking into the individual specificity, such as the head, the face and the tooth, it was said that the difference between these five bodies and the two kinds in Africa was not great enough to regard them as different kinds.

This is a new discovery. It may make scientists to rethinking about the evolution of human being.