Editing Milford H. Wolpoff (section)

===Multiregional evolution and the punctuated equilibrium theory===
{{Main|Multiregional origin of modern humans}}
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.<ref>{{cite web |author=Hirst KK |title=Milford Howell Wolpoff |url=http://archaeology.about.com/od/archaeologistsw/g/wolpoffm.htm|work=About.com Guide|access-date=2013-04-29}}</ref> He suggests that after an [[Africa]]n origin of the Homo lineage (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 [[Single-origin hypothesis|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.<ref>{{cite web |author=Hirst KK |title=Wolpoff, Milford H. |date=1999 |url=http://www.cirs-tm.org/researchers/researchers.php?id=83|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050226012030/http://www.cirs-tm.org/researchers/researchers.php?id=83|url-status=usurped|archive-date=February 26, 2005|work=Researchers|publisher=International Center for Scientific Research|access-date=2013-04-29}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Wolpoff MH, Hawks J, Caspari R |year=2000|title=Multiregional, not multiple origins |url=https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/34270/1/11_ftp.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/34270/1/11_ftp.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |journal=Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. |volume=112 |issue=1|pages=129–136|doi=10.1002/(SICI)1096-8644(200005)112:1<129::AID-AJPA11>3.0.CO;2-K |pmid=10766948|hdl=2027.42/34270|hdl-access=free }}</ref>

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.<ref name=lee/><ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Wolpoff MH, Caspari R |year=2002|title=Response to 'Grappling with the Ghost of Gould' by David P. Barash (letter to the editor)| url=http://human-nature.com/nibbs/02/wolpoff.html| journal=Human Nature Review |volume=2 |pages=297 }}</ref> In an earlier example of [[punctuated equilibrium|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."<ref>{{cite web |title=Human ancestors make evolutionary changes|date=4 May 1984 |url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Human+ancestors+make+evolutionary+changes.-a03762051|work=The Free Library|publisher=Science Service, Inc.|access-date=2013-04-30}}</ref>