Milford H. Wolpoff

Milford Howell Wolpoff is a paleoanthropologist and professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan and its museum of Anthropology. He is the leading proponent of the multiregional evolution hypothesis that explains the evolution of ''Homo sapiens'' as a consequence of evolutionary processes and gene flow across continents within a single species. Wolpoff authored the widely used textbook ''Paleoanthropology'' (1980 and 1999 eds.), and co-authored ''Race and Human Evolution: A Fatal Attraction'', which reviews the scientific evidence and conflicting theories about the interpretation of human evolution, and biological anthropology's relationship to views about race.

Wolpoff is best known for his vocal support of the multiregional model of human evolution when it was challenged by the 'Out of Africa' theory. The basis for advancing the multiregional interpretation stems from his skepticism of punctuated equilibrium (the idea evolution typically proceeds with long static periods and abrupt changes, instead of gradual modification during speciation) as an accurate model for Pleistocene humanity, noting that speciation played a role earlier in human evolution. Provided by Wikipedia