The LSED (Low-Energy Selection-Driven/Quenching Belt Model) proposes that the energy deficit and population compression during glacial maxima constituted the physical boundary for the origin and evolution of modern humans in East Asia. This chapter proceeds from the methodological foundations of cliodynamics and non-equilibrium thermodynamics, and employs six independent lines of evidence—effective population size (Ne) oscillation across glacial-interglacial cycles, maternal mitochondrial L3 sub-lineages in East Asia, paternal Y-chromosome M122 in the Huang-Huai Plain, the non-equilibrium thermodynamic energy/entropy constraints, the northern stratigraphic sequence (Nihewan Basin + Bashan site group), and the mosaic morphology of the Xuchang crania—to conduct a cross-disciplinary falsification of the core assumptions of the classical Recent African Origin model (RAO, strict replacement + single out-of-Africa at ~68 ka). The results demonstrate that the RAO model's treatment of Ne as an adjustable fitting parameter, its reduction of L3 to a mere “African marker”, and its conflation of the southern origin of M122 mutation with a southern population hub all rest on a fundamental methodological fallacy: the confusion of “mutation origin” with “population formation center”. By replacing mathematical fitting with physical benchmarking, LSED constitutes a substantive rejection of the classical RAO narrative.
Jing Zhang (2026) studied this question.