Milford H. Wolpoff

Last updated
Milford H. Wolpoff
Born1942
Chicago, Illinois
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Known for Multiregional origin of modern humans
AwardsDarwin Lifetime Achievement Award (2011)
W.W. Howells Book Prize (1999)
Scientific career
Fields Anthropology
Institutions University of Michigan
Doctoral advisor Eugene Giles
Notable students Timothy Douglas White
Mary Doria Russell
John D. Hawks

Milford Howell Wolpoff is a paleoanthropologist and professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan and its museum of Anthropology. He is the leading proponent of the multiregional evolution hypothesis that explains the evolution of Homo sapiens as a consequence of evolutionary processes and gene flow across continents within a single species. Wolpoff authored the widely-used textbook Paleoanthropology (1980 and 1999 eds.), [1] and co-authored Race and Human Evolution: A Fatal Attraction, which reviews the scientific evidence and conflicting theories about the interpretation of human evolution, and biological anthropology's relationship to views about race. [2] [3]

Contents

Wolpoff is best known for his vocal support of the multiregional model of human evolution when it was challenged by the 'Out of Africa' theory. The basis for advancing the multiregional interpretation stems from his skepticism of punctuated equilibrium (the idea evolution typically proceeds with long static periods and abrupt changes, instead of gradual modification during speciation) as an accurate model for Pleistocene humanity, noting that speciation played a role earlier in human evolution. [4] [ clarification needed ]

Education

Wolpoff was born in 1942 to Ruth (Silver) and Ben Wolpoff, in Chicago. He received an A.B. in 1964 with a major in anthropology and a minor in mathematics, and a PhD in 1969 in physical anthropology, with minors in zoology and archaeology, from the University of Illinois in Urbana, Illinois. His research advisor and intellectual mentor was Eugene Giles. [5] He joined the faculty of the University of Michigan in 1971, and became a professor of anthropology in 1977. [3]

Professional work

Wolpoff was trained primarily as a paleoanthropologist at the University of Illinois under Eugene Giles. With his multidisciplinary training, he brings to the study of the human and non-human primate fossil record a background that combines evolutionary theory, population genetics, and biomechanics. With over 50 grants funded by the National Science Foundation, National Academy of Sciences, and the University of Michigan, Wolpoff has visited the museums where human and primate fossils are stored and has studied in detail and at length all the materials addressing the fossil evidence for human evolution across Europe, Asia, and Africa. His research foci have included the evolution and fate of the European Neandertals, the role of culture in early hominid evolution, the nature and explanation of allometry, robust australopithecine evolution, the distribution and explanation of sexual dimorphism, hominid origins, the pattern and explanation of Australasian hominid evolution, the contributions and role of genetics in paleoanthropological research, and the taxonomy of the genus Homo. In addition, he is a primary describer of many hominid fossil remains. Since 1976 Wolpoff has graduated more than 20 PhD students. [2]

Multiregional evolution and the punctuated equilibrium theory

Drawing on this background and research experience, Wolpoff's continuing research in the last 15 years has been the development, articulation, and defense of his multiregional model of human evolution. [6] He suggests that after an African origin of Homo sapiens (including Homo ergaster / Homo erectus ) and the subsequent migration of H. erectus throughout much of the globe (Africa, Europe, Asia), local evolutionary events took place, and when they were advantageous, they spread everywhere else. According to Wolpoff, populations of Homo evolved together as a single species. Change in Pleistocene populations did not involve speciation (the splitting of one species into two): all this time, the geographically distinct populations maintained small amounts of gene flow. This idea directly challenges the Out of Africa model, which claims Homo sapiens evolved recently as a new species in Africa, and then dispersed throughout the Old World, replacing the existing human populations without mixing with them. [7] [8]

His theory evoked rivalry with the proponents of punctuated equilibrium, Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge, who endorsed H. erectus as a model of their theory. [4] [9] In an earlier example of punctuated evolution preceding the global diffusion of Homo sapiens genes from Africa, some two million years ago, Wolpoff points to evidence of an earlier 'genetic revolution' that took place in a small group isolated from australopithecine forebears. "The earliest H. sapiens remains differ significantly from australopithecines in both size and anatomical details," he notes, "Insofar as we can tell, these changes were sudden and not gradual." [10]

Awards and honours

Wolpoff is a member of many anthropological organizations, and is an Honorary Life Member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (in 2001) and Fellow of the American Anthropological Association. Some notable awards are [5]

Media

Books and monographs

His work with Rachel Caspari, Race and Human Evolution earned them the W.W. Howells Book Prize in 1999. Besides these, he has published 5 other books, 160 papers, and 22 book reviews, has presented numerous lectures and meetings papers, and has had many interviews and video appearances.

Magazines and films

Wolpoff has also appeared in The New York Times , New Scientist , Discover , and Newsweek . [2] He has appeared in numerous video documentaries, notable ones include [5] [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human evolution</span> Evolutionary process leading to anatomically modern humans

Human evolution is the evolutionary process within the history of primates that led to the emergence of Homo sapiens as a distinct species of the hominid family, which includes the great apes. This process involved the gradual development of traits such as human bipedalism and language, as well as interbreeding with other hominins, which indicate that human evolution was not linear but a web.

<i>Homo habilis</i> Archaic human species from 2.1 to 1.5 mya

Homo habilis is an extinct species of archaic human from the Early Pleistocene of East and South Africa about 2.31 million years ago to 1.65 million years ago (mya). Upon species description in 1964, H. habilis was highly contested, with many researchers recommending it be synonymised with Australopithecus africanus, the only other early hominin known at the time, but H. habilis received more recognition as time went on and more relevant discoveries were made. By the 1980s, H. habilis was proposed to have been a human ancestor, directly evolving into Homo erectus which directly led to modern humans. This viewpoint is now debated. Several specimens with insecure species identification were assigned to H. habilis, leading to arguments for splitting, namely into "H. rudolfensis" and "H. gautengensis" of which only the former has received wide support.

<i>Australopithecus</i> Genus of hominin ancestral to modern humans

Australopithecus is a genus of early hominins that existed in Africa during the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene. The genus Homo emerged within Australopithecus, as sister to e.g. Australopithecus sediba. Also the genera Paranthropus and Kenyanthropus emerged within Australopithecus. Australopithecus is a member of the subtribe Australopithecina, which sometimes also includes Ardipithecus, though the term "australopithecine" is sometimes used to refer only to members of Australopithecus. Species include A. garhi, A. africanus, A. sediba, A. afarensis, A. anamensis, A. bahrelghazali and A. deyiremeda. Debate exists as to whether some Australopithecus species should be reclassified into new genera, or if Paranthropus and Kenyanthropus are synonymous with Australopithecus, in part because of the taxonomic inconsistency.

Meganthropus is an extinct genus of non-hominin hominid ape, known from the Pleistocene of Indonesia. It is known from a series of large jaw and skull fragments found at the Sangiran site near Surakarta in Central Java, Indonesia, alongside several isolated teeth. The genus has a long and convoluted taxonomic history. The original fossils were ascribed to a new species, Meganthropus palaeojavanicus, and for a long time was considered invalid, with the genus name being used as an informal name for the fossils.

<i>Homo</i> Genus of hominins that includes humans and their closest extinct relatives

Homo is the genus that emerged in the genus Australopithecus that encompasses the extant species Homo sapiens, plus several extinct species classified as either ancestral to or closely related to modern humans, most notably Homo erectus and Homo neanderthalensis. The genus emerged with the appearance of Homo habilis just over 2 million years ago. Homo, together with the genus Paranthropus, is probably sister to Australopithecus africanus, which itself had previously split from the lineage of Pan, the chimpanzees.

Paleoanthropology or paleo-anthropology is a branch of paleontology and anthropology which seeks to understand the early development of anatomically modern humans, a process known as hominization, through the reconstruction of evolutionary kinship lines within the family Hominidae, working from biological evidence and cultural evidence.

Anagenesis is the gradual evolution of a species that continues to exist as an interbreeding population. This contrasts with cladogenesis, which occurs when there is branching or splitting, leading to two or more lineages and resulting in separate species. Anagenesis does not always lead to the formation of a new species from an ancestral species. When speciation does occur as different lineages branch off and cease to interbreed, a core group may continue to be defined as the original species. The evolution of this group, without extinction or species selection, is anagenesis.

<i>Homo rhodesiensis</i> Species of primate (fossil)

Homo rhodesiensis is the species name proposed by Arthur Smith Woodward (1921) to classify Kabwe 1, a Middle Stone Age fossil recovered from a cave at Broken Hill, or Kabwe, Northern Rhodesia .. In 2020, the skull was dated to 324,000 to 274,000 years ago. Other similar older specimens also exist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aris Poulianos</span> Greek anthropologist and archaeologist

Aris Poulianos is a Greek anthropologist and archaeologist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human taxonomy</span> Classification of the human species

Human taxonomy is the classification of the human species within zoological taxonomy. The systematic genus, Homo, is designed to include both anatomically modern humans and extinct varieties of archaic humans. Current humans have been designated as subspecies Homo sapiens sapiens, differentiated, according to some, from the direct ancestor, Homo sapiens idaltu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australopithecine</span> Extinct subtribe of the Hominini tribe, and members of the human clade

Australopithecina or Hominina is a subtribe in the tribe Hominini. The members of the subtribe are generally Australopithecus, and it typically includes the earlier Ardipithecus, Orrorin, Sahelanthropus, and Graecopithecus. All these closely related species are now sometimes collectively termed australopiths or homininians. They are the extinct, close relatives of humans and, with the extant genus Homo, comprise the human clade. Members of the human clade, i.e. the Hominini after the split from the chimpanzees, are now called Hominina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OH 7</span> Hominin fossil

OH 7, also nicknamed "Johnny's Child", is the type specimen of Homo habilis. The fossils were discovered on November 4, 1960 in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, by Jonathan and Mary Leakey. The remains are dated to approximately 1.75 million years, and consist of fragmented parts of a lower mandible, an isolated maxillary molar, two parietal bones, and twenty-one finger, hand, and wrist bones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Post-orbital constriction</span>

In physical anthropology, post-orbital constriction is the narrowing of the cranium (skull) just behind the eye sockets found in most non-human primates and early hominins. This constriction is very noticeable in non-human primates, slightly less so in Australopithecines, even less in Homo erectus and completely disappears in modern Homo sapiens. Post-orbital constriction index in non-human primates and hominin range in category from increased constriction, intermediate, reduced constriction and disappearance. The post-orbital constriction index is defined by either a ratio of minimum frontal breadth (MFB), behind the supraorbital torus, divided by the maximum upper facial breadth (BFM), bifrontomalare temporale, or as the maximum width behind the orbit of the skull.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean-Jacques Hublin</span> French paleoanthropologist

Jean-Jacques Hublin is a French paleoanthropologist. He is a professor at the Max Planck Society, Leiden University and the University of Leipzig and the founder and director of the Department of Human Evolution at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. He is best known for his work on the Pleistocene hominins, and on the Neandertals and early Homo sapiens, in particular.

John Hawks is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He also maintains a paleoanthropology blog. Contrary to the common view that cultural evolution has made human biological evolution insignificant, Hawks believes that human evolution has sped up in recent history.

The multiregional hypothesis, multiregional evolution (MRE), or polycentric hypothesis is a scientific model that provides an alternative explanation to the more widely accepted "Out of Africa" model of monogenesis for the pattern of human evolution.

Alan Gordon Thorne was an Australian born academic who was extensively involved with various anthropological events and is considered an authority on interpretations of Aboriginal Australian origins and the human genome. Thorne first became interested in matters pertaining to archaeology and human evolution as a lecturer in human anatomy at the University of Sydney and eventually joined the Australian National University (ANU) as a professor, where he taught biology and human anatomy. Over time, through many excavations such as Lake Mungo and Kow Swamp, Thorne posited significant arguments that have contradicted traditionally accepted theories explaining the early dispersion of human beings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bodo cranium</span> Extinct hominin species skull fossil

The Bodo cranium is a fossil of an extinct type of hominin species. It was found by members of an expedition led by Jon Kalb in 1976. The Rift Valley Research Mission conducted a number of surveys that led to the findings of Acheulean tools and animal fossils, as well as the Bodo Cranium. The initial discovery was by Alemayhew Asfaw and Charles Smart, who found a lower face. Two weeks later, Paul Whitehead and Craig Wood found the upper portion of the face. Pieces of the cranium were discovered along the surface of one of the dry branches of the Awash River in Ethiopia. The cranium, artifacts, and other animal fossils were found over a relatively large area of medium sand, and only a few of the tools were found near the cranium. The skull is 600,000 years old and is now the type specimen of Homo bodoensis. (formerly Homo heidelbergensis / Homo rhodesiensis).

Wu Xinzhi was a Chinese paleoanthropologist, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and former vice director of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP).

Changes to the dental morphology and jaw are major elements of hominid evolution. These changes were driven by the types and processing of food eaten. The evolution of the jaw is thought to have facilitated encephalization, speech, and the formation of the uniquely human chin.

References

  1. ↑ M.H. Wolpoff (1998). Paleoanthropology. New York: McGraw-Hill. ASIN   B010WEX0HS.
  2. 1 2 3 Brockman J (2012). "Milford H. Wolpoff". Edge. Edge Foundation, Inc. Retrieved 2013-04-29.
  3. 1 2 "Milford Wolpoff (The Department of Anthropology)". University of Michigan. Archived from the original on 2015-10-30. Retrieved 2013-04-29.
  4. 1 2 Lee SH, Wolpoff MH (2003). "The pattern of evolution in Pleistocene human brain size". Paleobiology. 29 (2): 186–196. doi:10.1666/0094-8373(2003)029<0186:TPOEIP>2.0.CO;2.
  5. 1 2 3 "Curriculum Vitae: Milford H. Wolpoff". University of Michigan. Retrieved 2013-04-29.
  6. ↑ Hirst KK. "Milford Howell Wolpoff". About.com Guide. Retrieved 2013-04-29.
  7. ↑ Hirst KK (1999). "Wolpoff, Milford H." Researchers. International Center for Scientific Research. Retrieved 2013-04-29.
  8. ↑ Wolpoff MH, Hawks J, Caspari R (2000). "Multiregional, not multiple origins" (PDF). Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 112 (1): 129–136. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1096-8644(200005)112:1<129::AID-AJPA11>3.0.CO;2-K. hdl: 2027.42/34270 . PMID   10766948. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-10-09.
  9. ↑ Wolpoff MH, Caspari R (2002). "Response to 'Grappling with the Ghost of Gould' by David P. Barash (letter to the editor)". Human Nature Review. 2: 297.
  10. ↑ "Human ancestors make evolutionary changes". The Free Library. Science Service, Inc. 4 May 1984. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  11. ↑ Hagen E (11 March 2011). "Darwin award 2011: Milford Wolpoff". American Association of Physical Anthropologists. Archived from the original on 26 August 2011. Retrieved 2013-04-29.
  12. ↑ "Curriculum vitae : Milford H. Wolpoff". en.convdocs.org. 21 November 2012. Archived from the original on 3 July 2013. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
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