Where did Homo sapiens go after leaving Africa? New study has an answer | Human evolution

Our species emerged in Africa more than 300,000 years ago, with a migration out of the African continent 60,000 to 70,000 years ago, beginning the global spread of Homo sapiens. But where did the Homo sapiens after abandoning Africa?

After years of debate, a new study comes forward with an answer. These groups of hunter-gatherers appear to have remained for thousands of years as a homogeneous population in a geographic center that encompassed Iran, southeastern Iraq and northeastern Saudi Arabia, before colonizing all of Asia and Europe around 45,000 years ago. years, scientists stated in the latest edition ofThe magazine Nature Communications.

The findings were based on genomic datasets drawn from ancient DNA and modern genebanks, combined with paleoecological evidence that showed this region would have represented an ideal habitat. Researchers called this region, part of the so-called Iranian plateau, a geographic “center” for these people — who may have numbered just a few thousand — before they continued to advance, millennia later, to more distant locations.

“Our results provide the first complete picture of the whereabouts of the ancestors of all present-day non-Africans in the early stages of the colonization of Eurasia,” said molecular anthropologist Luca Pagani, from the University of Padua (in Italy), lead author of the published study. in the magazine Nature Communications.

“A story about us”

Anthropologist and study co-author Michael Petraglia, director of the Australian Research Center for Human Evolution at Griffith University (Australia), said the study “is a story about us and our history — our goal was to unravel some of the mysteries about our evolution and our worldwide spread​”.

“The combination of genetic and paleoecological models allowed us to predict the location where the first human populations resided as soon as they left Africa.”added Michael Petraglia.

These people lived in small mobile hunter-gatherer groups, according to researchers. The location of the “center” it offered a variety of ecological environments, from forests to grasslands and savannas, fluctuating over time between arid and humid periods.

There would have been ample resources available, with evidence showing hunting of wild gazelles, sheep and goats, Petraglia said.

“Their diet would have been composed of edible plants and hunting of small and large animals. Hunter-gatherer groups appear to have practiced a seasonal lifestyle, living in the lowlands in the colder months and in mountainous regions in the warmer months.”highlighted Petraglia.

Dark skin and hair

The people who inhabited the “center” At the time, they apparently had dark skin and hair, perhaps similar to the Gumuz or Anuak ethnicities that currently live in parts of East Africa, according to Pagani.

“Rock art appeared simultaneously as soon as people left the ‘center’. Therefore, these cultural achievements may have been prepared while they were at the ‘center’”Pagani said.

Its possible dispersion in different directions beyond the “center” laid the basis for genetic divergence between present-day East Asians and Europeans, according to researchers.

The study explored modern and ancient genomic data from Europeans and Asians. “We found a special use in the oldest genomes, which date back 45,000 to 35,000 years ago”said molecular anthropologist and also lead author of the study Leonardo Vallini, from the University of Padua and the University of Mainz, in Germany.

Researchers have devised a way to untangle the extensive genetic mixing of populations that has occurred since the dispersal of “center”in order to identify this region.

There have been previous small-scale tours of the Homo sapiens out of Africa before the crucial migration 60,000 to 70,000 years ago, but these appear to have been dead ends.

O Homo sapiens was not the first human species to live outside of Africa — including the area that encompasses the “center”. The ancient interbreeding of our species left a small Neanderthal contribution to the DNA of modern non-African humans.

“Neanderthals were present in the area before the arrival of Homo sapiensso the ‘center’ may well have been the location of this interaction”concluded Vallini.