Milford H. Wolpoff
Encyclopedia
Milford H. Wolpoff is a paleoanthropologist, and since 1977, a professor of anthropology
and adjunct associate research scientist, Museum of Anthropology at the University of Michigan
. He is the leading proponent of the multiregional evolution hypothesis that attempts to explain the evolution of Homo sapiens
as a consequence of evolutionary processes within a single species. He is the author of Paleoanthropology, 1980 and 1999 editions with McGraw-Hill, New York. ISBN 0-07-071676-5), and the co-author (with Rachel Caspari) of Race and Human Evolution: A Fatal Attraction (ISBN 0-684-81013-1), which reviews the scientific evidence and conflicting theories about how human evolution has been interpreted, and how its interpretation is related to views about race.
His research on the Multiregional model of human evolution
challenges the 'Out of Africa' theory. His basis for advancing the multiregional interpretation of human evolution derives from his disbelief in punctuated equilibrium
(the idea that changes occur when new species are formed and only rarely are slowly and gradually accumulated during the stable periods between speciations) as an accurate model for Pleistocene
humanity, noting that speciation played a role earlier in human evolution.
in 1964 and a Ph.D.
, both in anthropology, from the University of Illinois
in Urbana, Illinois
. His research advisor and intellectual mentor was Eugene Giles.
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 Australasia
n 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.
Drawing on this background and research experience, Wolpoff's continuing research for the last 15 years has been the development, articulation, and defense of his multiregional model of human evolution. Almost as time-consuming has been the preparation and publication of the 2nd edition of Paleoanthropology (1999, McGraw-Hill
, ISBN 0-07-071676-5), Wolpoff's detailed 878 page presentation of the fossil record for human evolution and the many levels of explanation for the pattern it reflects. Writing with Rachel Caspari, their Race and Human Evolution (1997, Simon & Schuster
) was very favorably reviewed in professional journals and in the New York Times, where it was recommended reading. It received the W.W. Howells Book Prize in Biological from the Biological Anthropology Section of the American Anthropological Association
.
Besides these, Wolpoff 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. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, New Scientist
, Discover
, and Newsweek
. Since 1976 Wolpoff has graduated 14 Ph.D. students, 7 women and 7 men, all but two of whom have academic positions. These Michigan graduates include the discoverer of several new australopithecine
species, the first paleoanthropologist to debunk the hominid status of Ramapithecus, the leaders in the study of late Pleistocene European evolution, three past or present chairs (or heads) of anthropology departments, and the past president of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists
, and the editor of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology
. Wolpoff is a member of many anthropological organizations, and is an Honorary Life Member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi
and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
.
n origin of Homo sapiens (including Homo ergaster
/Homo erectus
) and the subsequent migration of H. erectus throughout much of the globe with the exception of the Americas, local evolutionary events took place across the world (Africa, Europe
, Asia
, 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.
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."
His most recent publications are:
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
and adjunct associate research scientist, Museum of Anthropology at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
. He is the leading proponent of the multiregional evolution hypothesis that attempts to explain the evolution of Homo sapiens
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
as a consequence of evolutionary processes within a single species. He is the author of Paleoanthropology, 1980 and 1999 editions with McGraw-Hill, New York. ISBN 0-07-071676-5), and the co-author (with Rachel Caspari) of Race and Human Evolution: A Fatal Attraction (ISBN 0-684-81013-1), which reviews the scientific evidence and conflicting theories about how human evolution has been interpreted, and how its interpretation is related to views about race.
His research on the Multiregional model of human evolution
Human evolution
Human evolution refers to the evolutionary history of the genus Homo, including the emergence of Homo sapiens as a distinct species and as a unique category of hominids and mammals...
challenges the 'Out of Africa' theory. His basis for advancing the multiregional interpretation of human evolution derives from his disbelief in punctuated equilibrium
Punctuated equilibrium
Punctuated equilibrium is a theory in evolutionary biology which proposes that most species will exhibit little net evolutionary change for most of their geological history, remaining in an extended state called stasis...
(the idea that changes occur when new species are formed and only rarely are slowly and gradually accumulated during the stable periods between speciations) as an accurate model for Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
humanity, noting that speciation played a role earlier in human evolution.
Education
Wolpoff received an A.B.Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in 1964 and a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
, both in anthropology, from the University of Illinois
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
in Urbana, Illinois
Urbana, Illinois
Urbana is the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 41,250. Urbana is the tenth-most populous city in Illinois outside of the Chicago metropolitan area....
. His research advisor and intellectual mentor was Eugene Giles.
Professional
Wolpoff is a paleoanthropologist, an anthropologist who studies the human past. Wolpoff was trained at the University of Illinois, as a student of Eugene Giles and a product of an aggressively 4-field department. Beyond anthropology, his training has been in physics and evolutionary biology and ecology. 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 Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
, National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
, 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
Paranthropus
The robust australopithecines, members of the extinct hominin genus Paranthropus , were bipedal hominids that probably descended from the gracile australopithecine hominids...
evolution, the distribution and explanation of sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...
, hominid origins, the pattern and explanation of Australasia
Australasia
Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...
n hominid evolution, the contributions and role of genetics
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
in paleoanthropological research, and the taxonomy
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
of the genus Homo. In addition, he is a primary describer of many hominid fossil remains.
Drawing on this background and research experience, Wolpoff's continuing research for the last 15 years has been the development, articulation, and defense of his multiregional model of human evolution. Almost as time-consuming has been the preparation and publication of the 2nd edition of Paleoanthropology (1999, McGraw-Hill
McGraw-Hill
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., is a publicly traded corporation headquartered in Rockefeller Center in New York City. Its primary areas of business are financial, education, publishing, broadcasting, and business services...
, ISBN 0-07-071676-5), Wolpoff's detailed 878 page presentation of the fossil record for human evolution and the many levels of explanation for the pattern it reflects. Writing with Rachel Caspari, their Race and Human Evolution (1997, Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
) was very favorably reviewed in professional journals and in the New York Times, where it was recommended reading. It received the W.W. Howells Book Prize in Biological from the Biological Anthropology Section of the American Anthropological Association
American Anthropological Association
The American Anthropological Association is a professional organization of scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology. With 11,000 members, the Arlington, Virginia based association includes archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, biological anthropologists, linguistic...
.
Besides these, Wolpoff 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. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, New Scientist
New Scientist
New Scientist is a weekly non-peer-reviewed English-language international science magazine, which since 1996 has also run a website, covering recent developments in science and technology for a general audience. Founded in 1956, it is published by Reed Business Information Ltd, a subsidiary of...
, Discover
Discover (magazine)
Discover is an American science magazine that publishes articles about science for a general audience. The monthly magazine was launched in October 1980 by Time Inc. It was sold to Family Media, the owners of Health, in 1987. Walt Disney Company bought the magazine when Family Media went out of...
, and Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
. Since 1976 Wolpoff has graduated 14 Ph.D. students, 7 women and 7 men, all but two of whom have academic positions. These Michigan graduates include the discoverer of several new australopithecine
Australopithecine
The term australopithecine refers generally to any species in the related genera Australopithecus or Paranthropus. These species occurred in the Plio-Pleistocene era, and were bipedal and dentally similar to humans, but with a brain size not much larger than modern apes, lacking the...
species, the first paleoanthropologist to debunk the hominid status of Ramapithecus, the leaders in the study of late Pleistocene European evolution, three past or present chairs (or heads) of anthropology departments, and the past president of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists
American Association of Physical Anthropologists
The American Association of Physical Anthropologists is an American-based international scientific society of physical anthropologists. It was formed in 1930, with Morris Steggerda as one of its founding members. They have 1,700 members. They publish the American Journal of Physical...
, and the editor of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
The American Journal of Physical Anthropology is a peer-reviewed scientific journal and the official journal of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists...
. Wolpoff is a member of many anthropological organizations, and is an Honorary Life Member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi
Phi Kappa Phi
The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi is an honor society established 1897 to recognize and encourage superior scholarship without restriction as to area of study and to promote the "unity and democracy of education"...
and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...
.
Multiregional evolution and the punctuated equilibrium theory
Wolpoff suggests that after an AfricaAfrica
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n origin of Homo sapiens (including Homo ergaster
Homo ergaster
Homo ergaster is an extinct chronospecies of Homo that lived in eastern and southern Africa during the early Pleistocene, about 2.5–1.7 million years ago.There is still disagreement on the subject of the classification, ancestry, and progeny of H...
/Homo erectus
Homo erectus
Homo erectus is an extinct species of hominid that lived from the end of the Pliocene epoch to the later Pleistocene, about . The species originated in Africa and spread as far as India, China and Java. There is still disagreement on the subject of the classification, ancestry, and progeny of H...
) and the subsequent migration of H. erectus throughout much of the globe with the exception of the Americas, local evolutionary events took place across the world (Africa, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, 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
Old World
The Old World consists of those parts of the world known to classical antiquity and the European Middle Ages. It is used in the context of, and contrast with, the "New World" ....
, replacing the existing human populations without mixing with them.
In an earlier example of punctuated evolution
Punctuated equilibrium
Punctuated equilibrium is a theory in evolutionary biology which proposes that most species will exhibit little net evolutionary change for most of their geological history, remaining in an extended state called stasis...
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."
Books and monographs
- 1971 Metric Trends in Hominid Dental Evolution. Case Western Reserve Studies in Anthropology 2. Case Western Reserve University Press, Cleveland; 244 pp.
- 1976 William R. Farrand, Richard W. Redding, Milford H. Wolpoff, and Henry T. Wright, III) An Archaeological Investigation on the Loboi Plain, Baringo District, Kenya. Museum of Anthropology, The University of Michigan Technical Reports Number 4, Research Reports in Archaeology, Contribution 1, Ann Arbor.
- 1980 Paleoanthropology. Knopf, New York; 379 pp. ISBN 0-394-32197-9
- 1988 Jakov Radovčić, Fred H. Smith, Erik Trinkaus, and Milford H. Wolpoff The Krapina Hominids: An Illustrated Catalog of the Skeletal Collection. Mladost Press and the Croatian Natural History Museum, Zagreb.
- 1994 Paleoanthropology. Preliminary publication of the 2nd edition. College Custom Series, McGraw-Hill, New York. ISBN 0-07-071679-X
- 1995 Human Evolution. 1996 edition. College Custom Series, McGraw-Hill, New York. ISBN 0-07-071827-X
- 1996 Human Evolution. 1996-1997 edition. College Custom Series, McGraw-Hill, New York. ISBN 0-07-071833-4
- 1997 Milford H. Wolpoff and Rachel Caspari: Race and Human Evolution. Simon and Schuster, New York. ISBN 0-684-81013-1. Published in paperback in 1998 by Westview press ISBN 0-8133-3546-9. A Canadian National Institute for the Blind talking book RC18623 (4 cassettes, narrated by Roy Avers). Recipient of the 1999 W.W. Howells Book Prize in Biological Anthropology, presented by the Biological Anthropology Section of the American Anthropological Association
- 1999 Paleoanthropology. 2nd edition. McGraw-Hill, New York. ISBN 0-07-071676-5. Reviewed by A. Bilsborough (2001) Clash of the Titans. Journal of Human Evolution 41:701-709.
Other publications
Other publications may be found at Wolpoff's web site and many can be downloaded.His most recent publications are:
2004
- Opinion: Multiregional Origins of Modern Humans. In M.A. Jobling, M.E. Hurles, and C. Tyler-Smith: Human Evolutionary Genetics: Origins, Peoples, and Disease. Garland Science, New York. pp. 244–245.
- Wolpoff, M.H., B. Mannheim, A. Mann, J. HawksJohn D. HawksJohn Hawks is a professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He also is the author of a widely read paleoanthropology blog.-Biography:...
, R. Caspari, K.R. Rosenberg, D.W. Frayer, G.W. Gill, and G.A. Clark: Why Not the Neandertals? World Archaeology 36(4):527-546.
2005
- Multiregional Evolution. In C. Renfrew and P. Bahn (eds): Archaeology: The Key Concepts. Routledge, London. pp. 176–181.
- Wolpoff, M.H., and D.W. Frayer: Unique Ramus Anatomy for Neandertals? American Journal of Physical Anthropology 128(2):245-251.
- Caspari, R., and M.H. Wolpoff Origines et diversité. L’évolution multirégionale de l’espèce humaine. Krisis: Revue d’Idées et de Débats (Origine? ed. Alain de Benoist) 27:117-128.
- Jelínek, J., M.H. Wolpoff, and D.W. Frayer: Evolutionary Significance of the Quarry Cave Specimens from Mladeč. Anthropologie 43(2-3):199-211.
- Lee, S-H., and M.H. Wolpoff: Habiline Variation: A New Approach using STET. Theory in Biosciences 124(1):25-40.
2006
- Wolpoff, M.H., and R. Caspari: Does Krapina reflect Early Neandertal Paleodemography? Periodicum Biologorum 108(4):425-432.
- Wolpoff, M.H., J. Hawks, B. Senut, M. Pickford, and J. Ahern: An Ape or The Ape: Is The Toumaï Cranium TM 266 a Hominid? PaleoAnthropology 2006:36-50.
- Wolpoff, M.H., and Sang-Hee Lee: Variation in the Habiline Crania – Must it be Taxonomic? Human Evolution
- Rougier, H., I. Crevecoeur, and M.H. Wolpoff: Lower Third Premolar Rotation in the Krapina Dental Sample. Periodicum Biologorum 108(3):269-278.
Past PhD Students
- David Wayne Frayer 1976
- Fred Hines Smith 1976
- Leonard Owen Greenfield 1977
- Timothy Douglas White 1977
- Clark Spencer Larsen 1980
- Mary Doria RussellMary Doria RussellMary Doria Russell is an American novelist. -Biography:Russell was born in the suburbs of Chicago. Her parents were both in the military: her father was a Marine Corps drill instructor, and her mother was a Navy nurse. She graduated from Glenbard East High School and later she earned a Ph.D in...
1983 - Marcia Lynn Robertson 1984
- Lynne Alison Schepartz 1987
- Andrew Kramer 1989
- Tracey Leigh Crummett 1994
- Katarzyna Anna Kaszycka 1995
- James Chapin McLaughlin Ahern 1998
- Noriko Seguchi 1998
- Sang-Hee Lee 1999
- John D. HawksJohn D. HawksJohn Hawks is a professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He also is the author of a widely read paleoanthropology blog.-Biography:...
1999 - Adam P. Van Arsdale 2006
- Julie J. Lesnik 2011
- Davorka Radovcic 2011