Talk:Early human migrations

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It is not clear from the opening paragraph whether the article refers to human as in homo sapiens or the homo genus. Shawnc (talk) 05:45, 9 February 2008 (UTC)

how is it unclear, seeing that the lead explicitly mentions both H. erectus and H. sapiens? dab (𒁳) 14:28, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Imprecise terms edited

I want to explain two edits I made and encourage others to look for similar problems I may have overlooked. In both cases, imprecise our outdated terminology was used. First, the description of arrival of Homo sapiens in Europe was listed as the arrival of "Cro-Magnons." That term derived from a 19th century fossil find in France is no longer used by anthropologists to describe a group of hominids, because they have been identified as early humans, essentially indistinguishable from homo sapiens. Unlike other groups, such as the Neanderthals, the Cro-Magnons have turned out to be our ancestors. They are humans. So the terms "Early Modern Human" or "Anatomically Modern Human" are sometimes used. But for the sake of this discussion, where the spread of homo sapiens is being discussed, I used that term. This also avoids any confusion for those who are looking for the spread of humans into Europe and are not aware that Cro-Magnons are an early human. Second, the term "Early humans" was used for a section that described the spread of homo erectus and other early hominid populations. The identification of Homo erectus as "human" is controversial at best, even when it's conceded that this species appears to be immediately ancestral to homo sapiens. But given the modern usage of "early humans" to mean Paleolithic Homo sapiens, it seems better to avoid applying this label to non-Homo sapien species. I also felt that the usage may have stemmed from an early author's support of dispersal models other than the mainstream out-of-Africa, such as multi-regional evolution of homo sapiens from homo erectus. That almost seems to be the implication of this section if one does not clearly distinguish that Homo erectus of Asia is not believed to be at all ancestral to the Homo sapiens who later populated the area. This potential lack of NPOV in favor of a fringe viewpoint is an additional reason for making a change. So I have replaced the heading with "Early Hominids." There are also problems with this, since the section does not deal with the earliest hominid species, but it was the most accurate succinct phrasing I could think of. Improvements by other editors are welcome. Ftjrwrites (talk) 17:28, 12 February 2008 (UTC)