1.   The central interest, though, is the last part of the story, the origins of modern humans and the subsequent diversification into geographically variable populations.

2.   Among the distinctive signs of the first modern humans are burials with ritual.

3.   Among the fossil hominids examined by the team, the australopithecines have ape-like proportions, and Homo erectus resembles modern humans.

4.   An African origin for modern humans is supported by recent studies of mitochondrial DNA, genetic material that is passed only through females.

5.   An archaeological find suggests that the ancenstors of modern humans left Africa much earlier than previously thought.

6.   And the short, broad palate is shaped like one from the genus Homo, the family branch that includes modern humans.

7.   And they noted that the canal in Neanderthals and other Homo ancestors was close in size to those of modern humans.

8.   At the time, scientists said the DNA results reinforced the idea that Neanderthals were a separate species from modern humans.

9.   Bar-Yosef also favors the idea of a latent genetic ability in the first anatomically modern humans that was not triggered until much later.

10.   Because the greatest mitochondrial variations occurred in African people, scientists concluded that they had a longer evolutionary history, indicating a probable African origin for modern humans.