Multi-regional origin
Adherents of the multi-regional origin model of human origins hold that some, or all, of the genetic variation between the contemporary human populations that are colloquially termed races is attributable to genetic inheritance from hominid species, or subspecies, that were geographically dispersed throughout Asia, and possibly Europe and Australasia, prior to the evolution of modern Homo sapiens (conventionally dated to at least 70,000, possibly 150,000, years ago).Candidate populations suggested by multi-regionalists as sources for such genetic variation include Homo neanderthalensis and Peking Man (a local subspecies of Homo erectus).
This view contradicts the single origin hypothesis which holds that modern Homo sapiens evolved from a single, geographically localised, ancestral hominid population, whose descendants ultimate replaced all other species of hominids over the course of tens of thousands of years without interbreding or subspeciation.
Multiregionalist proponents:
