Support NeoGAF

[entremet]

It wasn't phases of homo sapiens but just one huge wave.

Pretty interesting finding for our species's natural history.

Also, we leave Africa? Climate models show it may have been a rainfall issue, which affected available food and thus our ancestors went looking for food.

Food, making the world go around since the dawn of humanity.

Modern humans evolved in Africa roughly 200,000 years ago. But how did our species go on to populate the rest of the globe?

The question, one of the biggest in studies of human evolution, has intrigued scientists for decades. In a series of extraordinary genetic analyses published on Wednesday, researchers believe they have found an answer.

In the journal Nature, three separate teams of geneticists survey DNA collected from cultures around the globe, many for the first time, and conclude that all non-Africans today trace their ancestry to a single population emerging from Africa between 50,000 and 80,000 years ago.

“I think all three studies are basically saying the same thing,” said Joshua M. Akey of the University of Washington, who wrote a commentary accompanying the new work. “We know there were multiple dispersals out of Africa, but we can trace our ancestry back to a single one.”

Early studies of bits of DNA also supported this idea. All non-Africans are closely related to one another, geneticists found, and they all branch from a family tree rooted in Africa.

Yet there are also clues that at least some modern humans may have departed Africa well before 50,000 years ago, perhaps part of an earlier wave of migration.

In Israel, for example, researchers found a few distinctively modern human skeletons that are between 120,000 and 90,000 years old. In Saudi Arabia and India, sophisticated tools date back as far as 100,000 years.

Last October, Chinese scientists reported finding teeth belonging to Homo sapiens that are at least 80,000 years old and perhaps as old as 120,000 years.

Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/22/science/ancient-dna-human-history.html?_r=0

 

[MisterShine]

This has been a major theory for quite some time, I believe. I definitely heard it in my Population Bio class several years ago when I was still in college.

I just find it kind of amusing to think of the last tribe of humans looking around and going "fuck this place we're out" and just walking to Arabia.

 

[entremet]

This has been a major theory for quite some time, I believe. I definitely heard it in my Population Bio class several years ago when I was still in college.

I just find it kind of amusing to think of the last tribe of humans looking around and going "fuck this place we're out" and just walking to Arabia.

See my edit for theories why we left lol. It's from the article.

 

[USC-fan]

White flight was a thing this long ago?

Spoiler

/s

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

Relevant Indigenous Australians article

Australia’s Aboriginal people have already been using the tag of “world’s oldest living culture” before given scientific confirmation in a recent study of the DNA of Australia’s Indigenous people. One likely response to the finding from the subjects of the research is a satisfied, “I told you so”.

 

[ThisGuy]

White flight was a thing this long ago?

Spoiler

/s

Lmao

 

[diamount]

White flight was a thing this long ago?

Spoiler

/s

Africa is really only hospitable near the coasts.

 

[Jacobi]

I really wish we could look into the past... Early human stuff is so fascinating and everything else as well of course

Africa is really only hospitable near the coasts.

10000 years change a lot, I mean at the time of the vikings Iceland and Greenland were green

 

[LookAtMeGo]

How did we get over to North and south America? Boat? Or across the poles or something? Lumeria?

 

[The Cool One]

Climate models show it may have been a rainfall issue, which affected available food and thus our ancestors went looking for food.

Toriko was right

 

[Zantetsuken]

The Motherland indeed.

 

[Tubobutts]

How did we get over to North and south America? Boat? Or across the poles or something? Lumeria?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beringia

 

[USC-fan]

How did we get over to North and south America? Boat? Or across the poles or something? Lumeria?

land bridge from Russia.

 

[Escape Goat]

I know I've got soul deep down.

 

[Judderman]

 

[CrazyDude]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beringia

Although I have heard the some might have come across the Atlantic.

 

[Count Dookkake]

Shouldn't have kicked us out.

 

[Switch Back 9]

I really wish we could look into the past... Early human stuff is so fascinating and everything else as well of course

10000 years change a lot, I mean at the time of the vikings Iceland and Greenland were green

Iceland would still be green if said vikings didn't chop all the damn trees down.

 

[Cheesecakebobby]

"Out of Eden" by Stephen Oppenheimer lays out the single exodus theory and the genetic evidence supporting it in understandable terms - recommended.

 

[Air]

That's definitely a more interesting story than waves of people leaving. Always down to hear more about this stuff.

 

[-Plasma Reus-]

It's funny how white european africans* are now kicking out other africans for taking the SAME exodus.

*All Europeans are now white european africans.

 

[DontBeThatGuy]

"Out of Eden" by Stephen Oppenheimer lays out the single exodus theory and the genetic evidence supporting it in understandable terms - recommended.

Thank you.

 

[Laieon]

How did we get over to North and south America? Boat? Or across the poles or something? Lumeria?

Early humans could fly. Our wings weren't bone though, so there's no sign of them left.

 

[entremet]

Not to mention that non-African Homo Sapiens descendants have some Neanderthal genes as well.

 

[JonnyDBrit]

Studying Museum Studies and Archaeology here, this has... sort of been the general idea for a while, but its also worth contextualising a bit.

The biggest thing to understand is that this is still a span of several thousand years, so this is a 'population' in the sense that you have a genetically similar group, slowly migrating and expanding outward, and would not have really been the result of say, a single generation's worth of early humans heading northward and then it all being from them that we (meaning anyone with ancestry outside of sub-Saharan Africa) are descended. More particularly this wouldn't have necessarily been a continual expansion, without some staggering or waves of migration 'catching up' to previous ones. There would still be 'phases', but not so far removed in terms of genetics or time that we would consider them substantially different as groups of people.

Plus there's always the murky issue in delineating what is or isn't a 'modern human', and to what extent they're present in the genepool today. After all, just because we might find 'Homo Sapiens' skeletons in China that are potentially 120,000 years old doesn't actually mean anyone from that population had any input in anyone alive in the present. It's quite easily possible that there were full on earlier waves of migration tens of thousands of years ahead of the one that led to the Eurasian and American populace as we know it, but those just... didn't make it in the long run. We cannot presume total continuity.

 

[Valhelm]

Not to mention that non-African Homo Sapiens descendants have some Neanderthal genes as well.

Neanderthals were like the Native Americans of Europe and the Middle East

 

[entremet]

Neanderthals were like the Native Americans of Europe and the Middle East

Yeah and we had close to similar results .

Man, we were ruthless!

 

[Davidion]

Bros!

 

[Borgnine]

Sup my bruthas.

 

[sphagnum]

Although I have heard the some might have come across the Atlantic.

That was the Solutrean hypothesis but it's been discarded.

 

[demosthenes]

Africa is really only hospitable near the coasts.

Pretty sure it may have been slightly different 200k years ago.

 

[crimzonflame]

Early humans could fly. Our wings weren't bone though, so there's no sign of them left.

Yeah I think I read about this before.

 

[andythinkpad]

How did we get over to North and south America? Boat? Or across the poles or something? Lumeria?

Most recent method is boat along the coast.

 

[RedSwirl]

I really wish we could look into the past... Early human stuff is so fascinating and everything else as well of course.

Think about it. Anatomically modern humans have been walking the Earth for 200,000 years. Recorded human history only covers 6,000 years. That's a shitload of time where humans who generally look and think like us lived out their lives. And not all of them were tiny groups of hunter gatherers.

A while ago I think someone found evidence of a huge-ass battle that took place somewhere in like eastern Germany or something 3,000 years ago where thousands died... except the civilization that fought that battle didn't have writing at the time. It was as big as any major battle in recorded history, but we'll never know who was fighting or why.

 

[Jon Carter]

So that is where we're really from.

 

[Zekes!]

So that is where we're really from.

ya'll are still not allowed to say the n-word, just fyi

 

[sphagnum]

Think about it. Anatomically modern humans have been walking the Earth for 200,000 years. Recorded human history only covers 6,000 years. That's a shitload of time where humans who generally look and think like us lived out their lives. And not all of them were tiny groups of hunter gatherers.

A while ago I think someone found evidence of a huge-ass battle that took place somewhere in like eastern Germany or something 3,000 years ago where thousands died... except the civilization that fought that battle didn't have writing at the time. It was as big as any major battle in recorded history, but we'll never know who was fighting or why.

Here you go

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/03/slaughter-bridge-uncovering-colossal-bronze-age-battle

 

[double jump]

"Everybody wanna be a nigga, nobody wanna be a nigga."

 

[the_batman]

"Everybody wanna be a nigga, nobody wanna be a nigga."

Fuggin paul mooney

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Here you go

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/03/slaughter-bridge-uncovering-colossal-bronze-age-battle

Intriguing! So it seems to fit in with what I read in this book too.

 

[Nostremitus]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beringia

Nah earliest remains found in America were from Florida dated to before they could have gotten there via the land bridge.


There are theories that the first American inhabitants were pacific islanders that made there way from South East Asia all the way to America over the course of many generations of island hopping and settling the Islands of the Pacific.

Can't find the article I was reading, though... It was a few of years ago.
It was about tracing the genetic heritage of Pacific Islanders.

 

[Newtype-001]

So that is where we're really from.

 

[Zepp Twofist]

10000 years change a lot, I mean at the time of the vikings Iceland and Greenland were green

Greenland was only temporarily milder for some years when the vikings settled, and the name was mostly to attract additional settlers more than an accurate representation of the island.

 

[Chittagong]

Super interesting. Made me wonder how on earth did the aboriginals stumble upon Australia?

https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/migration-to-australia/

 

[ash_ag]

How did we get over to North and south America? Boat? Or across the poles or something? Lumeria?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beringia

There's a linguistic hypothesis that links the Na-Dené languages of the Navajo and the Apache to the Yeniseian languages of central Siberia (whose only living member is the Ket language). I recommend watching this lecture about the Ket people if you're interesting in the topic, especially its linguistic implications. Extremely interesting.

 

[Pancake Mix]

Considering most humans are not Africans, that single group made out quite well genetically and got the entire rest of the planet to themselves. Must have been tough to leave home, but the payoff for leaving food pressures was more than worth it.

Sorry for coming back, though. Methinks you didn't miss us, and who could blame you?

 

[-Plasma Reus-]

Damn, the map of colonisation
French is blue, British is red, green is Italian

 

[Pancake Mix]

Damn, the map of colonisation
French is blue, British is red, green is Italian

Yeah

Spain is Cyan, Belgium is orange, and Portugal is Brown. German colonies had been given to other countries by this point (1939).

Contrary to popular belief, Ethiopia was occupied by Italy at this time (1936-1941) and a colony.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_East_Africa

 

[Pusherman]

Yeah

Spain is Cyan, Belgium is orange, and Portugal is Brown. German colonies had been given to other countries by this point (1939).

Contrary to popular belief, Ethiopia was occupied by Italy at this time (1936-1941) and a colony.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_East_Africa

I would consider that more of an occupation akin to the occupation of France during the Second World War. I'd only really consider Eritrea, which had been a part of the Ethiopian Empire, an actual colony of Italy.

 

[Pancake Mix]

I would consider that more of an occupation akin to the occupation of France during the Second World War. I'd only really consider Eritrea, which had been a part of the Ethiopian Empire, an actual colony of Italy.

Non-Vichy France in particular was entirely under German military occupation and shows up in plenty of maps as Nazi territory, so it makes sense for Ethiopia to appear as Italian.

The difference is that Ethiopia was officially structured as a colony.

Anyways, don't forget Italian North Africa (Libya) and Italian Somaliland.