Where was the first man from?

Answer 1

One answer from our community:

The first man was formed by almighty God from the 'dust of the earth' , an obvious reference both to creative action as well as the elemental constituents to which man returns when he dies and then eventually rots.

Another answer from our community:

What Scientists Say regarding Evidence for Human Evolution:

'Amid the bewildering array of early fossil hominids, is there one whose morphology marks it as man's hominid ancestor? If the factor of genetic variability is considered the appears to be no.'

Robert B. Eckhardt, Ph.D. (human genetics and anthropology) (Professor of anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, USA), 'Population genetics and human origins'. Scientific American, vol.226(1), January 1972, p94

'In recent years several authors have written popular books on human origins which were based more on fantasy and subjectivity than on fact and objectivity. At the moment science cannot offer a full on the origin of humanity, but scientific method takes us closer to the truth'...

'As far as geologically more recent evidence is concerned, the discovery in East Africa of apparent remains of Homo in the same early fossil strata sites as both gracile and robust australopithecines has thrown open once again the question of the direct relevance of the latter to human evolution. So one is forced to conclude that there is no clear-cut scientific picture of human evolution.'

Introductiuon to, and article by, Dr Robert Martin (Senior Research Fellow, Zoological Society of London), 'Man is not an onion'. New Scientist, 4 August 1977, pp 283 and 285.

Answer 2

"First man" could mean the earliest hominids, from around 7 million years ago, archaic Homo sapiens, which are almost modern but could in some ways be considered intermediate species, or fully modern humans. The consensus of scientists is that man, whether we mean the earliest hominids, archaic Homo sapiensor fully modern Homo sapiens, came from Africa.
First early hominids Perhaps the oldest known hominid fossil is Sahelanthropus tchadensis, discovered in Chad, West Central Africa. This has been dated, using relative chronological methods, to between 6 and 7 million years ago. Another early hominid fossil is part of a lower jaw from an early hominid who lived around 5.2 million years ago, found in in Kenya.

First archaic Homo sapiens

Some African fossils that may be archaic Homo sapiens, are sometimes referred to as Homo sapiens rhodesiensis.
First modern humans

Fossils evidence of modern humans is sufficiently widespread that different scientists can draw different conclusions. However, mitochondrial DNA (inheritable through the female line) evidence seems to confirm an Africa origin for our species. A study in 1987 compared mtDNA from 147 modern humans throughout the world and found 133 different versions of mtDNA. There was more variation from within sub-Sahara Africa than in the rest of the world put together. Also, most of the variations seem to have had an African origin. The conclusion reached was that modern humans originated in Africa about 200,000 years ago, and that all post-200K humans have only African genes.
Researchers also studied that part of the DNA of the Y (male) chromosome that has no female, or X chromosome, counterpart. Both this DNA and the mtDNA are termed 'non-recombining' sections of the genome. 21 out of 27 Y chromosome variants originated in Africa, and there was more variation in the Y chromosome of Africans than in all other parts of the world, thus confirming the mtDNA findings.