Where did the "Original Man" come from?

We did evolve in Africa. There is nothing to argue about. This is a fact, not an opinion.

We share a common ancestor with today’s great apes.

Here is more information.

What you describe is called the “Out of Africa Theory” (OOA) by the press and the “Recent Single-Origin Hypothesis Theory” (RSOH) by the scientific community (just in case you wanted to look it up further). The concept was speculative before it was corroborated in the 1980s by a study of present-day mitochondrial DNA, combined with evidence based on physical anthropology of archaic specimens. Today, ROSH Theory is the most widely accepted theory concerning the geographical origin of Homo Sapiens.

The direct evidence suggests there was a migration of H. erectus out of Africa (more speccifically, East Africa), then a further speciation of H. sapiens from H. erectus in Africa. A subsequent migration within and out of Africa eventually replaced the earlier dispersed H. erectus. Current evidence does not preclude some multiregional evolution or some admixture of the migrant H. sapiens with existing Homo populations.

But be aware, this is science, and this is theory and, although this theory is widely accepted, it is currently a hotly debated area of paleoanthropology.

I love Lucy!

There is really no “original man”. There is a graded scale from one species to another based upon genetic characteristics that are passed down through the parents. We could discuss what a man is and if we can reach a consensus about exactly that is then we could possibly decide at what point evolution reached that point.

My personal take is more along the lines of Punctuated Equilibrium. That is that a species evolves slowly, much as outlined by Darwin, by natural selection with successful minor changes in heritable traits being handed down for the reason that they help the individual organism better survive and pass on these modifications. But that major evolutionary changes, changes that lead to new species are, on an evolutionary timescale, fairly quick and are caused by radical changes either in environment or circumstance (isolation of a population for example) which leads to a smaller genetic pool which in turn allows certain traits to become more important. Puntuated Equilibrium also gives reason for why you have a new species while the older source species continues to survive, at least for a while. If both the new and the original species are competing for the same resources, then the more capable of the two will win out eventually driving the less able one to extinction.

Human evolution is a complicated, convoluted process with no clear path from point 3.3 million years ago with a species called Anthropithecus Africanus, which if you were to see it you would say “ape” not “man”, to our present form of Homo Sapiens. We have to rely on the fossil record which is sparse at best. There have been many species in the tree which eventually went extinct. No one can say for certain which limb leads to which branch. It is all just educated guesses that change when additional information is unearthed.

Anthropithecus And the fossils that gave us an idea of what “he” looked like were those of a female.

@Dutchess_III what are you saying!!! That the “Original Man” was a woman???

LOL!!

But seriously, if I am not mistaken, the Taung Child was/is too young and incomplete being just a skull, and a brain cast (Wait! There is a hint!) to sex.

Wait, you’re talking about Lucy, the A. Afarensis so, never mind.

Here is an interesting Wiki article on Australopithecus chock full of interesting information.

I knew this was gonna be a good question!

@Dutchess_III I agree with you, Humans originated in Africa, there is so much proof and it’s really interesting to see that there are concrete evidence of this there are fossils found in the Great Rift Valley of Africa and going as far back as 15 million years there is evidence that Humankind has certainly first evolved in Africa, and the fossils that were discovered, they came entirely from Africa.

Well, 15 million years ago the great apes were around, anyway. Modern humans have only been around the last 200,000 years or so.

Or, could it be, as Ancient Alien Theorists suggest, that we were the product of genetic experiments by aliens?!?

Semantics, or rather, what is it that makes us human and when did that trait evolve? Which of These is human?

Well, the one in the middle looks like a guy I dated once.

Relevant Older than Lucy.

Toumai 6 – 7 mya hominid named Sahelanthropus tchadensis. but is a hominid human?