For in the earliest days of humanity, our ancestors migrated out of Africa and into the rest of the world.

Anthropologists and other scientists are slowly learning more about that event.

From a new analysis of a human skull discovered in South Africa more than 50 years ago, scientists say they have obtained the first fossil evidence establishing the relatively recent time for the dispersal of modern Homo sapiens out of Africa.

The migrants appeared to have arrived at their new homes in Asia and Europe with the distinct and unmodified heads of Africans.

An international team of researchers reported yesterday that the age of the South African skull, which they dated at about 36,000 years old, coincided with the age of the skulls of humans then living in Europe and the far eastern parts of Asia, even Australia. The skull also closely resembled skulls of those humans.

The timing, the scientists and other experts said, introduced independent evidence supporting archaeological finds and recent genetic studies showing that modern humans left sub-Saharan Africa for Eurasia between 65,000 and 25,000 years ago; probably closer to 45,000 to 35,000 years ago for Europe.

As one who teaches world history, a field that stretches back all the way to the emergence of the earliest humans, I find this fascinating, and encourage you to read the whole article.

Posted by: Greg at 05:53 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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