Abstract

We can reconstruct human history using a number of different methods. In the absence of written records, scholars have made use of information from disciplines including linguistics, archaeology, physical anthropology, cultural anthropology, history and palaeoanthropology to reconstruct their prehistory. The most direct account of our past is inferred from the fossil record. Skeletal remains have been instrumental in establishing the evolution of human ancestors in Africa, and they have also provided important information about the evolution of modern Homo sapiens.

Study of the genetic variation of humans, the concern of the field of molecular anthropology, attempts to produce objective data with which to provide new insights about human history. From a molecular-genetic perspective, it is clear that the DNA found in contemporary individuals has been passed down to them from previous generations. It is also clear that in every generation, some DNA sequences are not passed on because some individuals have no children or the sequence fails to be transmitted during meiosis. Therefore, the genealogy of a DNA sequence will trace back to fewer and fewer ancestors until it comes together in one common ancestor. Genetic studies, including those of mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosome DNA studies, have suggested that this ancestor lived in Africa, about 100–150 Kya (thousand years ago).

Genetic studies are also providing insights into what makes humans different from our closest primate relative, the chimpanzee. It is becoming more evident that in addition to genomic differences, differences in the level of expression of certain genes could be responsible for producing the morphological and adaptive changes found between humans and chimpanzees.

Résumé

Il est possible de retracer l'histoire de l'humanité en utilisant différentes méthodes. Pour retracer la préhistoire les scientifiques ont fait usage, en l'absence de traces écrites, d'informations provenant de disciplines telles que la linguistique, l'archéologie, l'anthropologie physique, l'anthropologie culturelle, l'histoire et la paléoanthropologie. La manière la plus directe pour faire état de ce cheminement est de faire appel aux fossiles. Les fossiles ont joué un rôle décisif pour déterminer l'origine africaine de notre lignée et nous informer sur l'origine de notre espèce.

L’étude de la variabilité génétique humaine, qui fait partie du domaine de l'anthropologie moléculaire, se propose de produire des données objectives nous donnant un nouvel aperçu de l'histoire de l'humanité. La génétique moléculaire nous enseigne que Nos contemporains ont hérité leur ADN des générations précédentes.