DNA Reveals Multiple Human Migrations from Africa Began 120,000 Years Ago, 60,000 Years Earlier Than Traditionally Thought
Technological advances and multidisciplinary research teams are reshaping our understanding of when and how humans left Africa – and who they met along the way
Most people are now familiar with the traditional “Out of Africa” model: modern humans evolved in Africa and then dispersed across Asia and reached Australia in a single wave about 60,000 years ago. However, technological advances in DNA analysis and other fossil identification techniques, as well as an emphasis on multidisciplinary research, are revising this story. Recent discoveries show that humans left Africa multiple times prior to 60,000 years ago, and that they interbred with other hominins in many locations across Eurasia.
Credit: © Bae et al. 2017. On the origin of modern humans: Asian perspectives. Science. Image by: Katerina Douka and Michelle O’Reilly Zoom Image
New model: Multiple dispersals of modern humans out of Africa, beginning as early as 120,000 years ago
The authors brought together findings from multiple recent studies to refine the picture of human dispersals out of Africa and into Asia. While scientists once thought that humans first left Africa in a single wave of migration about 60,000 years ago, recent studies have identified modern human fossils in far reaches of Asia that are potentially much older. For example, H. sapiens remains have been found at multiple sites in southern and central China that have been dated to between 70,000 and 120,000 years ago. Additional finds indicate that modern humans reached Southeast Asia and Australia prior to 60,000 years ago.
However, other recent studies do confirm that all present-day non-African populations branched off from a single ancestral population in Africa approximately 60,000 years ago. This could indicate that there were multiple, smaller dispersals of humans out of Africa beginning as early as 120,000 years ago, followed by a major dispersal 60,000 years ago. While the recent dispersal contributed the bulk of the genetic make-up of present-day non-Africans, the earlier dispersals are still evident.
“The initial dispersals out of Africa prior to 60,000 years ago were likely by small groups of foragers, and at least some of these early dispersals left low-level genetic traces in modern human populations. A later, major ‘Out of Africa’ event most likely occurred around 60,000 years ago or thereafter,” explains Michael Petraglia of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
Multiple interbreeding events
Recent genetic research has resolved the question of whether or not modern humans interbred with other ancient hominins – they definitely did. Modern humans interbred not only with Neanderthals, but also with our recently-discovered relatives the Denisovans, as well as a currently unidentified population of pre-modern hominins. One estimate is that all present-day non-Africans have 1-4% Neanderthal heritage, while another group has estimated that modern Melanesians have an average of 5% Denisovan heritage. In all, it is now clear that modern humans, Neanderthals, Denisovans and perhaps other hominin groups likely overlapped in time and space in Asia, and they certainly had many instances of interaction.
The increasing evidence of interactions suggests that the spread of material culture is also more complicated than previously thought. “Indeed, what we are seeing in the behavioral record is that the spread of so-called modern human behaviors did not occur in a simple time-transgressive process from west to east. Rather, ecological variation needs to be considered in concert with behavioral variation between the different hominin populations present in Asia during the Late Pleistocene,” explains Christopher Bae of the University of Hawai’i at Manoa.
In light of these new discoveries, our understanding of human movements across the Old World has become much more complex, and there are still many questions left open. The authors argue for the development of more complicated models of human dispersals and for conducting new research in the many areas of Asia where none has been done to date. Additionally, it will be important to review materials collected prior to the development of modern analytic methods, to see what more can now be learned from them. “Fortunately,” states Katerina Douka, also of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, “there have been an increasing number of multidisciplinary research programs launched in Asia over the past few decades. The information that is being reported is helping to fill in the gaps in the evolutionary records.”
“It is an exciting time to be involved with interdisciplinary research projects across Asia,” adds Bae.
Anne Gibson
Michael Petraglia, Prof., Ph.D.
Dr Katerina Douka
The Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH)
Citation: On the origin of modern humans: Asian perspectives
Christopher J. Bae, Katerina Douka, Michael D. Petraglia
Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.aai9067
Source: http://www.ineffableisland.com/2017/12/dna-reveals-multiple-human-migrations.html
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YOUR DATA IS OUTDATED and is NOTHING MORE THAN POLITICALLY CORRECT INDOCTRINATION. New evidence shows man developed in Europe or Russia. Newly discovered ancient skeletons show from testing to be much older than the ALLEGED Africa theory. This Africa theory is all about creating racism to favor the black over the ten lost tribe whites….to enable the white genocide. Just like there were no pharaohs in Egypt but the zionists are trying to make the gullible believe they existed there. Or Cleopatra not white. When in fact she was the tenth GREEK white generation of Egyptian rulers….all recorded. Or now a new theory that the Queen of Sheba came from Yemen instead of Egypt and was not black. You must awaken and realize WHO WRITES history and WHO PAYS for the archeological finds, theories, etc withholding whatever info they so choose. Remember it is the Rothchilds and the deep state and the Vatican that preaches all the hogwash. There is a reason why the Vatican library is not open to the public. There is a reason why the Smithsonian has hidden all the giant skeletons from view. They want everyone dumb enough to believe an atheist evolutional view of the world….instead of the truth….
The variation does’t mean that white people came from black parentage; novel mutations occur as a result of unstable hybrids.
All early explorers reported that they were prone to self-extinction (hardly evolution) without welfare statism.