Lovers, Not Fighters?; March 2008; Scientific American Magazine; by John Whitfield; 2 Page(s)

The question of whether modern humans made love or war with our ancestors has swung back and forth over decades of often acrimonious debate. At present, most researchers trying to read prehistory in our genomes believe that we contain no trace of species past and that we are all descended from a group that left Africa within the past 100,000 years and replaced all other humans, such as Neandertals, without interbreeding.

Those who favor the alternative view feel that the issue is moving their way, however. "Things are coming to the surface that dont fit that model" of a single recent migration out of Africa, says Murray Cox of the University of Arizona. Cox believes that he and his colleagues have found the clearest sign so far that modern humans mated with Homo erectus, a species that originated about two million years ago that many believe has a place on the lineage leading to ourselves.