African Exodus: The Origins of Modern Humanity (Paperback)

~ Christopher Stringer (Author), Robin McKie (Author) "I have never been able to trace the source of my passion for fossils..." (more)
Key Phrases: archaic sapiens, modern human origins, recent human evolution, Stone Age, Middle East, Old World (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Ever since Darwin first suggested that humans are descended from apes, the theory of evolution has engendered a firestorm of controversy. But the schism between creationism and evolution is by no means the only source of disagreement; even within the evolutionist camp there are fierce divisions. Are all humans part of a single species comprised of many different varieties? Or is each race a separate species? Even Darwin had no easy answer for that one. Some scientists, including Carleton Coon, believe that Homo erectus began in Africa, then migrated to different locations in the world, where it evolved into Homo sapiens at different rates--Europeans and Asians evolved quickly, while other races remained more "primitive." Others, such as author Christopher Stringer, agree that Homo erectus spread across Asia and Europe, but became extinct everywhere but in Africa, where they continued to evolve. Eventually, a new and improved Homo sapiens swept once more out of Africa--this time to stay.

There's plenty of paleontological and genetic evidence to support Stringer's point of view, and he argues it convincingly. Short of the invention of a time machine, African Exodus is the next best way to revisit the origins of modern man. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In sharp contrast to the multiregional interpretation of hominid development offered by Milford Wolpoff and Rachel Caspari in Race and Human Evolution (LJ 12/96), Stringer, director of the Human Origins group at London's Natural History Museum, and McKie, science editor of the Observer, argue for a single-origin theory for the recent emergence and essential unity of our species. The authors maintain that the erectus-sapiens transition happened only once, with Homo sapiens sapiens migrating out of Africa about 100,000 years ago and subsequently spreading worldwide. To make their case, they examine fossils, artifacts, and especially genes (e.g., the Kibish skull from Ethiopia, the Katanda culture of Zaire, and ongoing nuclear DNA findings). Special attention is given to the ape-human split, the so-called Neanderthal problem, and Cro-Magnon sociocultural advancements. The complex issues surrounding hominid evolution are made apparent here. Enhanced by numerous illustrations and extensive notes, this work is recommended for large anthropology collections.?H. James Birx, Canisius Coll., Buffalo, N.Y.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Owl Books (June 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805058141
• ISBN-13: 978-0805058147
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,165,664 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for a much maligned book., May 23, 1999

By	"rgrumm" (PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: African Exodus: The Origins of Modern Humanity (Hardcover)

I pondered purchasing this book for quite a long time based on some of the negative views written on this page about this book. After reading several other books on this topic I took the plunge. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and found some of the reviews about the book to be simplistic or myopic in thought. I ponder how many of the bad reviews were written by paleontologists who disagree with C. Stringer. Being a meteorologist, I found nothing offensive. I strongly agreed with his concept of hard scientific data and quantifying numbers to prove points.

No doubt, this book was written with latter evidence, including the DNA evidence that allows more specific conclusions. I found the lineage and concepts in line with those put forward by Tattersal and others suggesting no real bombshells in this book.

The book reads very well and is generally well written. The book portrays what most up-to-date books on this topic cover in a concise and consistent manner. The treatment of Neanderthals is good and in no way is negative. It is tragic that they did not survive much beyond about 30 kyrs ago. Anyone interested in current thinking on human evolutions should read this book. Finally, the title of this book is well taken; we are all Africans based on our evolution. Too bad we all don't realize who and what we all are!

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars VERY INFORMATIVE, March 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: African Exodus: The Origins of Modern Humanity (Hardcover)

I picked up this book simply because I wanted to learn about the origins of mankind. The authors provide ample and well-sustained evidence for their points. The book is fairly recent and thus has the advantage of hindsight, new knowledge and modern research techniques, such as DNA tests, which the authors use to support their argument.

This is not to say that it is perfectly logical. I found the book's low point to be the authors' reasoning for the higher prevalence of Rh-negative blood among very old Western European groups (such as the Basques), which somehow they explain away by those groups' relative isolation from new agricultural societies with higher counts of Rh-positive blood coming in from the East. Also, I didn't care to take sides in an intellectual (and personal) argument with other scientists who don't share the Out of Africa theory, which seems a hidden objective of this book. As for "African Exodus" being a response to "The Bell Curve", I didn't quite get the authors' punch line. This last point, however, didn't bother me at all since The Bell Curve is so obviously discredited by itself.

Read this book if you want to be informed, period.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This book is Stringer and McKie's Neandertal obsession, May 11, 1998

By	[e-mail] (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews

This review is from: African Exodus: The Origins of Modern Humanity (Hardcover)

In "African Exodus", Chris Stringer, the leading proponent of the Out of Africa view of human origins, shows himself to be obsessed with Neandertals. He is obsessed with showing how absolutely different, incapable, and, ultimately "not human" they were. Whether one believes him or not depends on what one knows about Neandertal cultural capabilities. Apparently Stringer is unaware of or is deliberately ignoring an increasing body of archaeological evidence that suggests that "archaic" humans like Neandertals had quite sophisticated cultural capabilities, and that these capacities, including language, may extend back to *at least* 400,000 years ago. This is bad enough, but Stringer makes things worse. In an attempt to paint all multiregionalists as unrepentant racists, he links them with the theories of Carleton Coon, and tries to demonstrate that Coon was an unrepentant racist. He does this by describing an incident in the Harvard men's room, which seems to this reviewer like nothing more than an exercise in bad taste. Finally, Stringer tries to make himself look heroic by describing his rescue of one of the Krapina fossils he was studying in Croatia. The problem is, the incident he describes sounds awfully similar to one the paleoanthropologist Fred Smith described iin Trinkaus and Shipman's "The Neandertals"(1993). Stringer has undoubtedly done some fine work, and raised some worthwhile questions, but in his zeal to link multiregionalism to racism, he has also left out a lot of valuable material. One doesn't even get an idea of what multiregionalism is from his book. Although the book doesn't take much time to read, and is written in a style easily accessible to lay people, I would not recommend it. He is too biased, and there are too many lapses of either taste or judgment to make it a worthwhile addition to the libraries of those who are interested in human evolution.