Chapter Seven: The Migrants

For we cannot tarry here,
We must march my darlings, we must bear the brunt of danger,
We the youthful sinewy races, all the rest on us depend,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

Walt Whitman

According to the Out of Africa model of human history, a relatively small group of Homo Sapiens migrated across the Red Sea, possibly at its southernmost point, the Bab el-Mandeb (“Gate of Tears”), some 80,000 to 60,000 years ago. There would have been nothing special about this group whatsoever. They were not the first to have crossed the Red Sea to Asia -- relics of a much earlier migration have been found in Israel, but that lineage seems to have died out. And there may well have been other groups to have made a similar crossing both before and after them, though none of these other lineages seems to have survived either. 

As far as they were concerned the perilous journey across the bay to a shore they could barely make out on the horizon might not have been much different from other such crossings made over wide rivers as they journeyed from place to place -- they were, in all likelihood, nomads. It's possible they crossed the Red Sea to escape some other people seeking to destroy or enslave them. Or maybe they simply hoped to find better opportunities for hunting, fishing, collecting shellfish and other nutrients. We'll never know.

They had their picture taken -- though it wasn't developed until tens of thousands of years later (click on image to enlarge):

(see Figure 2.4, Chapter Two)

That’s them, roughly in the middle, toward the bottom, in the violet area, under the words “Out of Africa” -- the ones labeled M and N. According to this model, everyone whose ancestors lived outside of Africa is descended from this one small group, which I'll be calling HMP, or the “Hypothetical Migrant Population.” I’ll refer to their culture as HMC, or the “Hypothetical Migrant Culture.”

A Migrant Baseline

My goal in this chapter will be the compilation of a second baseline representing the culture of this small but extremely important population. Assuming a single Out of Africa exodus, all non-African societies everywhere in the world ultimately derive not only from the genes, but also the culture, of these “Out of Africa” migrants.

In formulating the HBC baseline, I extrapolated from the present, on the basis of certain affinities among Pygmy and Bushmen groups, to the past of their common ancestors. Similarly, in formulating HMC, I must also extrapolate from the present to the past. In this case, however, there is no analogy to the valuable clue afforded by the unexpected conjunction of genetic and musical evidence which enabled us to focus on only three populations. We'll need to search among a great many non-African peoples for the commonalities we need, and as a result our thinking will be more speculative and our conclusions more tentative.

The precisions of the “triangulation” method must of necessity give way to a somewhat less rigorous, but nevertheless potentially fruitful, approach, based on the following principle: Any distinctive tradition, in the form of a value system, belief system, artifact or attribute not likely to be the result of outside influence, found among a significant number of non-African indigenous groups in at least two different regions of the world, may be regarded as a potential survival from an older tradition traceable to the original Out of Africa migrants, and thus ascribable to HMC. Naturally, the more widespread the instances of any given tradition, the more convincing the result will be.

In this context, it will be helpful to keep in mind the basic issues raised in Sidebar Three. On the basis of both the principle of sufficient reason and Occam’s Razor, and contrary to a commonly held dogma of modern anthropology: all else being equal, survival of any given tradition from a common ancestor can be regarded as the default explanation, while any argument for independent development or convergence requires  corroborating evidence. In other words, if there is not enough evidence to clearly support one of these positions over the other, then survival should be favored as it constitutes sufficient reason and provides by far the simplest explanation, thus satisfying Occam's Razor.

This should by no means be taken as a basis for drawing premature conclusions in the absence of sufficient evidence and analysis. Indeed literally everything presented in this book should be understood as a testable hypothesis, to be evaluated in the light of all the evidence, and by no means definitive in itself. It does, however, provide us with a useful heuristic, through which the likelihood of a hypothesis can be determined in cases where evidence is inconclusive. On this basis, it's important to understand that the argument for survival from a common ancestor should never be uncritically dismissed, as has so often happened in the past, simply because independent development or "convergence" is assumed to be the more reasonable explanation. It is not.¹

Bows and Arrows

Let’s begin our HMC reconstruction by considering some of the traditions already covered in Chapter Four:

Did the Out of Africa migrants have bows and arrows? And if so, did they use poison arrows? While the use of bows and arrows and arrow poison by HBP remains open to debate, since this technology may have been borrowed from neighboring Bantu groups (see Chapter Four), the widespread presence of bows and arrows both in and out of Africa makes it extremely likely that this technology was an important part of the material culture of HMC, from where it would have spread to the rest of the world.

While it's possible to argue, on the basis of its late appearance in the Americas, that the bow and arrow may have been independently invented there, it seems highly unlikely that it could have been independently invented everywhere it is found, as is sometimes claimed. There is nothing obvious about bows and arrows, and certainly nothing obvious about the archery skills necessary if they are to be of any use. Given what we now know about African origins, it seems logical to conclude that a technology as widely used as this must have had its beginnings on that continent and spread from there via HMC.

While the evidence for independent development in the Americas is very strong, and must be acknowledged, I see no such evidence for independent development in any other part of the world. As for the use of poison tips, on arrows, spears and darts, it seems logical to conclude that this too is very likely to have been an important part of the hunting technology of HMC, since such tips can be found among so many indigenous peoples in so many parts of the world today.

Bodily Decoration

We’ve already considered examples of scarification and body painting among Pygmies and Bushmen. Examples of both practices can be found in many different parts of the world:

Figure 7.1 Man with scarification marks -- Africa

Figure 7. 2 Maori Facial Tatoo

Figure 7.3 Tasmanian Woman

Figure 7.4 Great Andamanese.

The question has always been whether or not all or most of these traditions are related and, if so, how. If scarification and body painting were already established as traditions among HBP, it seems likely that all such forms of bodily decoration stem from the same source. If so, such practices could only have been transmitted from Africa to the rest of the world via HMC.

Shamanism

Many explanations for the origin and spread of shamanism have been offered, as well as many different definitions of what it is and what sort of practices should be included as part of it. If we interpret it in the broadest possible terms, as a system of beliefs and behaviors incorporating trance, spirit possession, ritual, and ritual healing, then I think it safe to conclude that it must have originated within HBC, regardless of whether or not this ancestral group actually practiced “shamanism” in the strictest sense of the term.  And if this is indeed the case, then it seems reasonable to argue that more or less the same cultural “package” could only have been transmitted to the rest of the world via HMC.

As I see it, those who insist that shamanism could only have originated where the word itself originated, among the paleo-Siberians of northern Eurasia, are still thinking in multiregional terms. Assuming it did originate in Siberia, then I see no way in which its spread throughout the rest of the world could have been accomplished, since there is no evidence of the migration of paleo-Siberians anywhere beyond the regions where they are now found.

The Sucking Cure

One of the most common techniques in the repertoire of shamans, healers, “medicine men,” etc. is the method of curing the sick by literally sucking the sickness out of their bodies. Often it emerges in the form of a small stone, bone or “dart.” As we’ve seen, such practices are common among EP, WP and Bu healers, and have thus been ascribed to HBC. More broadly, suction as a healing method is referenced several times in Mircea Eliade's comprehensive, though now somewhat outdated (1964), Shamanism. Eliade wrote the following with reference to North American Indian practice, but its similarity with Hewlett's description of Aka healing (see Chapter Four) is striking:

Injurious objects are usually projected by sorcerers. They are pebbles, small animals, insects; the magician does not introduce them in concreto, but creates them by the power of his thoughts. They may also be sent by spirits, who sometimes themselves take up residence in the patient's body. Once he has discovered the cause of the illness, the shaman extracts the magical objects by suction. (p.301).

Similar practices are reported by Eliade and many others among traditional peoples in many parts of the world. Here, for example, is a description of shamanic practices among Nepalese Buddhists:

Both Wangchuk and Lhamo Dolkar are reputed to be able to cure both physical and complex psychosomatic or supernaturally caused complaints. Their main healing technique is sucking . . . Lhamo, who is in trance . . . when she heals, sucks any afflicted part of the body . . . extracting in the process either a dark liquid or a dark sticky substance . . . and in the event of a more serious affliction, she may even extract stones, which are either white, brown or black (Buddhist Healers in Nepal: Some Observations, Angela Dietrich, p. 474).

Of special interest is the following observation, also from Eliade's book:

By suction, the shaman draws out with his teeth a small object “like a bit of black or white thread, sometimes like a nail paring.” An Achomawi told De Angulo: “I don't believe those things come out of the sick man's body. The shaman always has them in his mouth before he starts the treatment. But he draws the sickness into them, he uses them to catch the poison. Otherwise how could he catch it” (Shamanism, p. 307).

The skepticism of the Achomawi informant makes sense. In fact there is very good evidence that the healer's performance in a great many instances -- if not all -- is a clever sham. I remember a story concerning a healer disturbed at his inability to produce the necessary object -- until he learned the trick from an older colleague. He persisted with his investigations of the healer's “art” until he learned to produce an impressive display of blood along with the sucked out object -- by biting his tongue!

If the history of religion begins with shamanism, as many now believe, then a clever bit of deceit may lie at its heart.

Music

I've already made what I believe to be strong case for P/B style vocalizing as a pervasive and important aspect of HBC. What must be considered now is what role the style might have played in HMC. One clue, as far as Africa is concerned, is the very interesting center of P/B style to be found in a region very close to what is widely considered both a possible birthplace of “modern” humans and the staging area for the Out of Africa migration: the Omo River valley in southwest Ethiopia.

The following peoples in this region, all speakers of “Omotic” languages, vocalize at least some of the time using interlocking counterpoint, one of the most distinctive features of P/B: the Ari, Dorze, Gamo, Ghimira and Wolamo. As far as I know, the Dorze are the only ones who regularly yodel, though for them, as for just about all non-Pygmy or Bushmen groups worldwide, P/B is only one genre of many, and is performed only in the context of certain work situations or festivals. The similarity to Pygmy and Bushmen vocal style is striking: Audio Example 12:Dorze Maskal Song. (From Ethiopia:Polyphony of the Dorze, recorded by Bernard Lortat-Jacob.)

Judging from the widespread distribution of certain features of this very distinctive style, especially in certain key regions along the southern Out of Africa route along the Indian Ocean coast and beyond, it's difficult for me to believe that a very similar musical practice would not have played an important role in HMC. Indeed, aspects of P/B vocal style appear to have survived as a kind of “African signature” among indigenous groups in Southeast Asia, Southern China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea, Island Melanesia, and also among certain Siberian, Inuit and Amerindian groups, as well as among certain peasant communities in various regions of Europe, although such practices would appear to have a very different meaning for these peoples than it has for African Pygmies and Bushmen.

For one thing, the style usually tends to be more or less “watered down,” lacking the complexity, subtlety, spontaneity and creative freedom so characteristic of almost all Pygmy and Bushmen music. The counterpoint is often more limited in scope, the degree of improvisation restricted, or in many cases non-existent. Performances tend to be planned in advance and often rehearsed, with a fixed rather than open-ended number of parts.

The social context in which this particular type of music is performed also tends to be far more restricted. In a great many cases, as for example, among the Dorze, the style is reserved for special occasions, often associated with some of the most important rituals, as though this music were consciously associated with the oldest and most powerful ancestral traditions. In other cases, we find it, as in the “throat singing” hocket of certain Paleosiberian and Inuit groups, characterized as a game, though as Nattiez (1999) has demonstrated, this “game” has decidedly shamanic roots.

It's important to understand that such limitations do not apply among African Pygmies and Bushmen. While certain repertoires are reserved for special ceremonies, such as the girl's elima or the molimo ceremony among the Mbuti, or the Eland or Xhoma rituals among the Ju/'hoansi Bushmen, the style as a whole is a characteristic, spontaneously expressed, aspect of everyday life, as it very likely was for HBC. Whether the same applies to P/B as practiced by HMC is not completely clear, especially since we find “watered down” and contextually restricted forms of P/B among many African groups as well.

Musical Instruments

Of special interest in our assessment of HMC are the many hocketed, polyphonic wind ensembles, of pipes, whistles, trumpets, horns or flutes, to be found among certain groups in Africa, organized in a manner very similar to the interlocking of parts so characteristic of P/B vocalizing. Typically, each instrument has a single note to play, or in some cases, a repeated phrase, which interweaves with all the other parts to produce a resultant melody, rhythm or polyphonic texture.

The Mbuti perform with hocketed ensembles of single-note pipes called Luma, tuned and kept for them by their Bantu “masters”: Audio Example 13: Mbuti Pipers.  (From On The Edge Of The Ituri Forest, recorded by Hugh Tracey.) The BaAka use the easily portable mobeke pipe, described as “a small whistle made from the stem of a papaw plant,” for the same purpose. Among the Ba'Benzele Pygmies similar pipes are called hindewhu. In all cases, the pipes participate as equal partners with voices in hocketed/interlocked P/B style performances. Although today’s Bushmen don’t appear to have ensembles of this sort, hocketed panpipe ensembles are reported to have been an important aspect of the culture of their close relatives, the Khoi-Khoi (Hottentot) cattle herders.

Such ensembles, of pipes, panpipes, horns and trumpets are common in Africa. But very similar ensembles are also found outside of Africa among many of the same indigenous or “folk” populations that vocalize in some version of P/B style -- a distribution pattern almost impossible to explain unless the tradition had been disseminated from Africa via HMC. The vocal and instrumental forms of P/B are so close stylistically and structurally that the latter most likely developed from the former, very early on. To give you an idea of how similar some of these widespread traditions can be, let’s compare some audio clips: Audio Example 14:Ouldeme Pipes (from Cameroon:Flutes of the Mandara Mountains, recorded by Nathalie Fernando et Fabrice Marandola); Audio Example Fifteen: Russian Pipers from Plekhovo Village (recorded by Olga Velitchkina); Audio Example 16: Panpipes of Buma, Solomon Islands, (from Saydisc, Spirit of Melanesia).

Hocketed percussion, possibly a development from the very complex polyrhythmic interactions of P/B handclapping, is also an important tradition in many parts of Africa, with important echoes, once again, among indigenous populations along the “Out of Africa” route. Another instrument of great interest, with a very similar multi-regional distribution, is the slit drum, which is also, like stamping tubes, often played in hocketed/interlocked ensembles. Once again, it would seem as though the distribution of this very important instrument, often elaborately carved and with great ritual significance in certain cultures, can be explained only if it were part of a tradition disseminated via HMC.

Core Values

HMC would appear to have maintained many if not all of the most important core values of HBC: egalitarianism, relative gender-equality, cooperation, conflict avoidance, individual autonomy, and the sharing of vital resources, with strong sanctions against competition and violence. Since all of the above are characteristic of so many other hunting and gathering peoples worldwide, it seems likely that these values were inherited from HBC via HMC.

We mustn't forget, however, that not all indigenous peoples value non-violence, and indeed many are quite warlike, so we will need at some point to account for this very fundamental cultural shift. An important paper on this topic, by Eduardo Moreno, has recently been published: The society of our ‘out of Africa’ ancestors (I): The migrant warriors that colonized the world (Communicative & Integrative Biology 4:2, 1-9; March/April 2011).

On the basis of an analysis correlating ethnographic and genetic evidence, he concludes that the Out of Africa migrants must have had a violent and warlike culture. Moreno’s paper is the only one I've come across to date that deals with such issues from the perspective afforded by the "Out of Africa" model. Significantly, he is not an anthropologist, but a geneticist, and his paper has been published in a biological, not anthropological, journal.

Moreno begins in a spirit very much like mine, by reminding us that “the culture of the tribe(s) that left Africa to populate the rest of the world is likely to have dramatically shaped the subsequent cultures of History, because all non-Africans would have inherited those traditions as a primordial cultural background.” He continues as follows, asking more or less the same questions I’ve been asking: “What did that ancestral tribe that migrated out of Africa look like? What of their culture and religion? Were they peaceful or belligerent? Those are questions of utmost importance because the cultural biases of such a tiny clan are likely to have influenced all non-African cultures.”

Moreno associates a lack of violence with essentially the same groups I’ve singled out, those populations, such as the Pygmies and Bushmen, whose ancestry occupies the deepest clades of the mitochondrial tree (specifically L0, L1 and L2). I'm not sure I agree with his contention that the "Out of Africa" migrants (represented by L3) must have been warlike, but he makes a strong case, based on thinking very close to my own in style, which I find gratifying. Where his analysis differs from mine is in the emphasis he places not only on violent and warlike behavior, but also on the importance of certain other types of behavior that could be construed as consistent with a warlike culture, namely competitive sports and games such as wrestling and ritual combat.

This is an important aspect of his argument, because there are in fact many indigenous groups, particularly hunter-gatherers, which apparently share the Pygmy-Bushmen ethos of nonviolence and have no history of warlike behavior, head-hunting, etc. According to Moreno, however, several of these groups apparently engage in competitive games that might signal a warlike past. I must admit, he’s uncovered a possibly important clue that I’ve overlooked. His sampling of hunter-gatherer groups with violent histories and warlike games is relatively small, however, and any exceptions would have to be accounted for -- especially since it’s much easier to understand how a peaceful population could be goaded into violence than vice versa.

Moreno may well be on the right track, but as I see it, future research along such lines will have to be very precise regarding the nature of the games and rivalries that could be associated with a violent ethos, and his sampling will need to be more complete. Given the many reports of pacifist behavior and values among so many foraging groups outside of Africa, it does seem to me that HMP may well have inherited the pacifist traditions and values of HBC, despite Moreno's very interesting argument to the contrary. Clearly additional investigation of this issue is needed. Regardless, Moreno has made an important contribution, opening the door to what could be a very fruitful line of research.

Baseline Two

As with the list presented in Chapter Four, Table One, below, encapsulates all the evidence I’ve been able to come up with so far regarding the culture of the Out of Africa migrants. In this case, however, more than simply a list is required, because it’s necessary to present not only the possible roots of any given tradition in the ancestral culture (HBC) but also to assess its distribution, insofar as possible, in both Africa and the rest of the world:

Table One – Worldwide Distribution of Cultural Elements Possibly Associated with the Out of Africa migrants (HMC)

	HBC	Distribution in Africa	Distribution Outside Africa	HMC	Comments
Hunting & Gathering	Yes	Present but sparse.	Present among certain indigenous peoples in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Siberia, N. Japan, Australia, Melanesia, the Americas. Absent in Europe and Polynesia.	Yes
Honey Gathering	Yes	Present.	Ubiquitous among Hunter-Gatherers whenever available.	Yes
Horticulture	No	Present.	Currently common as a secondary source of food for many indigenous groups, including groups usually regarded as hunter-gatherers.	No (?)	Presence in HMC unlikely, assuming HMP were nomadic
Small bands	Yes	Among hunter-gatherers only.	Common among hunter-gatherer groups.	Yes	HMP was probably a single small band.
Nomadic	Yes	Among hunter-gatherers and pastoralists	Common among hunter-gatherers and some pastoralists.	Yes (?)	HMP were most likely nomadic, but not necessarily.
Kinship: informal, “universal”	Probably	Rare.	Very rare.	?
Economics: communal	Yes	Among hunter-gatherers only.	Common among hunter-gatherers, rare elsewhere.	Yes
Political Structure: acephalous	Yes	Among hunter-gatherers only.	Common among hunter-gatherers.	Yes
Beehive huts	Yes	Common among Pygmies, Bushmen and Hadza. Variants common among other African groups, such as the Swazi and Zulu.	Sparse but very widespread; found mostly among hunter-gatherers.	Yes	For more on beehive huts, see the following chapter.
Spears	Yes	Very common.	Very common worldwide.	Yes
Bows and arrows	Most likely	Very common.	Very common worldwide.	Yes
Poison spear and/or arrow tips	Most likely	Present mostly among hunter-gatherers, but also some farming groups.	Widespread among many hunter-gatherer groups.	Yes
Wooden tools	Yes	Common.	Common.	Yes
Stone tools	Yes	Now rare.	Now rare. Replaced almost everywhere by metal tools.	Yes
Tone Language	Yes	Widespread.	Widespread in Southeast Asia and East Asia. Common in the Punjab region of India and Pakistan. Not uncommon in Melanesia and the Americas. Rare elsewhere.	Yes
Music: vocal interlock	Yes	Common among Pygmy and Bushmen groups. Also found among certain other African groups, either associated with Pygmies or Bushmen or currently living in refuge areas. Especially common among certain farming groups in the highlands of southwest Ethiopia. Found also among the Mikea foragers of Madagascar.	Relatively rare,  but widely distributed among indigenous peoples in various refuge areas of Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Siberia, Melanesia, Europe, the Caucasus and Central and South America, almost always in refuge areas. Very rare or absent in South Asia, West Asia, Central Asia, Northeast Asia, Australia, North America (aside from California) and Polynesia.	Yes	The Pygmies and Bushmen of Africa, and possibly the Mikea of Madagascar, appear to be the only people in the world who sing in this manner spontaneously and on an everyday basis. Among other peoples, in Africa and elsewhere, this style of singing is usually reserved for special occasions, e.g. rituals, harvest celebrations, etc.
Music: yodel	Yes	Common among almost all Pygmy and Bushmen groups, though not found among the Bedzan Pygmies. Much less common elsewhere in Africa.	Often found among indigenous peoples, and, more rarely, among some European peasant groups, where it is usually associated with vocal interlock (see above). Also found in the Caucasus, and in certain herding songs of Europe (especially Switzerland) and the USA (e.g., cowboy songs).	Yes
Music: hocketing pipe, panpipe, flute, trumpet or horn ensembles	Very likely	Relatively rare but widespread. Pipe or whistle ensembles found among both western and eastern Pygmy groups, but not currently among Bushmen groups.	Rare but widespread among indigenous groups in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Melanesia, Europe, Central and South America, almost always in refuge areas. Absent in Taiwan, Siberia, South Asia, Australia, Polynesia and North America, with the possible exception of Northwest Coast.	Yes	While pipe ensembles are not currently found among Bushmen, they were widely reported among the closely related “Hottentots,” suggesting that some Bushmen groups may have used them in the past.
Music: hocketing percussion ensembles (stamping tubes, drums, gongs, xylophones, etc.)	No	Very common.	Commonly found among indigenous groups in SE Asia, Indonesia, Melanesia, Polynesia and South America. Rare in Europe, with the exception of an unusual type  of Basque stamping tube tradition	Probably
Music: slit drums	No	Not uncommon.	Commonly found among indigenous groups in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Melanesia, Polynesia, and the Americas. Absent in Europe, Central and NE Asia, Taiwan, Siberia, South Asia (?), and Australia.	Probably
Music: membranophones (drums with skin heads)	No	Very common, especially among Bantu groups.	Commonly found among a great many different societies worldwide. Not found in Australia.	Probably
Music: Songs originating in dreams or trance.	Yes	Not uncommon. Associated with shamanism.	Not uncommon among indigenous peoples. Associated with shamanism.	Yes
Wood carving, especially masks.	No	Common.	Commonly found along the southeasternmost range of the Out of African trail, e.g., southeast Asia, Melanesia, Polynesia, and also the Americas, especially among NorthWest Coast and South American Indians.	Yes
Rock Art	No	Associated with Bushmen groups of the past. Not found among contemporary groups.	No longer practiced, but many examples have been found, from every continent.	Yes	Since we see no evidence of rock art among any Pygmy group, we are unable to include it as part of HBC.
Shamanism	Possibly	Common.	Common among indigenous groups worldwide.	Yes
Possession and trance	Yes	Common.	Common among many indigenous groups worldwide.	Yes
Extraction of harmful objects by suction	Yes	Common.	Common among many indigenous groups worldwide.	Yes
Scarification	Yes	Common	Common among many indigenous groups worldwide.	Yes
Core values 1: egalitarianism, cooperation, individualism, sharing of vital resources.	Yes	Found almost exclusively among hunter-gatherers.	Common among many hunter-gatherer and horticultural societies worldwide. Rare elsewhere. Thought by Marija Gimbutas to have been characteristic of  “Old European” culture.	Yes
Core values 2: non-violence, conflict avoidance.	Yes	Found almost exclusively among hunter-gatherers.	Found among some, but not all, hunter-gatherers and horticulturalists. Many such groups engage in endemic warfare, blood feuds, headhunting, cannibalism, etc. Possibly characteristic of  “Old European” culture.	?	More research is needed to determine whether HMP were or were not violent and warlike. See discussion of Moreno 2011, above.
Gender Relations: relative equality, based on male-female complementarity.	Yes	Found almost exclusively among hunter-gatherers.	Found almost exclusively among certain hunter-gatherer groups, but not all. Rare elsewhere.	Yes (?)
Behavior: mostly cooperative, unaggressive and peaceful; however, sometimes contentious, sexist and/or violent in spite of relative gender equality and strong social sanctions against violent behavior.	Yes	Characteristic of most hunter-gatherer groups.	Characteristic of certain hunter-gatherer groups, but not all.	Probably

Table 1 should be understood as a tentative first step. Clearly much more research will be needed before any of these hypotheses can be definitively evaluated. Many of these issues will be examined in more detail in upcoming chapters, as we follow the descendants of HMP in their wanderings through many different regions of the world.

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1. Granted, this approach will seem counter-intuitive to most anthropologists. The notion that so-called “universals,” such as music, language, religion, etc., or simple commonalities, such as the widely distributed use of certain tools or dwellings or artistic or musical styles, etc., are best explained through some mysterious process of convergence, due to certain innate properties of the human mind or the natural environment, was long taken for granted, because it was the only explanation consistent with the multiregional view that  dominated anthropological thinking for many years. If modern humans and their culture had originated in very different corners of the world, based on the traditions of various far flung archaic hominids, such as Neanderthals or Homo Erectus, such an interpretation would make sense. Hardly anyone accepts that model anymore, as it has been completely contradicted by the genetic evidence. But old habits die hard.

From the standpoint of the Out of Africa model, based on the notion that all modern humans share a relatively recent ancestry, it seems much more reasonable to infer that the many cultural commonalities we see worldwide most likely stem from the same common inheritance. As should go without saying, all such hypotheses on either side of the fence, regardless of Occam’s Razor or any other principle, scientific or otherwise, must be regarded as provisional until decisive evidence one way or the other becomes available.