Ancient species of humans likely left Africa multiple times
Projectile points found at the archaeological site, Shinfa-Metema 1,
in the lowlands of northwest Ethiopia
The most significant dispersal of Homo sapiens, our own species — which ultimately led to modern humans living in every corner of the globe — took place around 70,000 to 50,000 years ago.
About 74,000 years ago, Sumatra’s Mount Toba experienced a super-eruption, one of the largest in Earth’s history. Some scientists have suspected a volcanic winter resulting from the eruption was a big enough shift to wipe out most early humans
But now a cutting-edge study on an archaeological site in northwest Ethiopia once occupied by early modern humans has added to a growing body of evidence that suggests the event might not have been so apocalyptic.
Instead, the new research found humans in that location, known as Shinfa-Metema 1, adapted to the arid conditions brought on by the volcanic eruption in a way that may have facilitated humanity’s pivotal migration out of Africa to the rest of the world.
humans living there forged ahead despite the likely climate shift that the volcanic cataclysm triggered.
CNN 21 March 2024
There have been five mass extinction events in the history of the earth
Our ancestors were on the brink of extinction around
900,000 years ago, according to scientists, with little more than a thousand breeding individuals eking out a lonely existence for more than 100,000 years.
Kommentarer