Advanced Weapons and Communication Helped Humans Migrate Out of Africa 50,000 Years Ago

It is believed that the first modern humans emerged in Africa about 300,000 years ago. However, the fossil file reveals that there have been many attempts and false departures. For example, 180,000 years Homo Sapien Bones have been found in Israel. It was only about 50,000 years ago, that a bunch of humans passed the Eurasia and established a permanent presence, finally settling in regions as diverse as the mountains of Nepal and the tropical forests of Malaysia. It is from this intrepid troop of prehistoric explorers from which non-Africans descend.

But why did this group in particular succeed when all the others before them had failed? Researchers writing in Nature Assign their triumph to tens of thousands of years of learning to live and to exploit various habitats in Africa.

“Unlike previous humans dispersing outside Africa, these human groups move into Eurasia after approximately [60,000 years] has [50,000] Years ago, it was equipped with distinctive ecological flexibility following the management of climate difficulties habitats, “said Eleanor Scerri, archaeologist at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropy in Germany, A press release. “This probably provided a key mechanism for the adaptive success of our species beyond their African homeland.”

Learn more:: The first humans prospered in the tropical forests of Africa 150,000 years ago

Successful human migration

The fact that migration has succeeded when the others were not particularly confusing because the attempts at previous dispersion took place during the increased precipitation periods, when a “green corridor” would have offered a more hospital path through the belt of the Saharo-Arab desert.

“However, around [70,000 years to 50,000] Years ago, the simplest road in Africa would have been more difficult than during the previous periods, and yet this expansion was important and ultimately successful, “said Andrea Manica, an evolutionary environment at the University of Cambridge, in a press release.

Many theories have been presented to explain why. Some indicate a leap in cognition and the ability to symbolically communicate; Others to the development of new weapons, in particular projectile weapons. Another theory is that coupling with hominines already living in Eurasia has provided Homo sapiens with a certain genetic protection and immunities – but, according to the researchers, this had not helped the previous human populations who had also tried to disperse and had been intertwined with other hominines.

Learn to prosper in different habitats

Instead, the team has examined the populations in Africa over the past 120,000 years, investigating the bioclimatic niches that humans lived in millennia. By using techniques commonly used in the field of ecology to model the distribution of species, the team analyzed how human niches have developed and contracted over time.

“Our results have shown that the human niche began to develop considerably from the age of 70,000, and that this expansion was motivated by humans increasing their use of various types of habitats, from forests to arid deserts,” said Michela Leonardi, of the London Natural History Museum in a press release.

This expansion culminated about 50,000 years ago, coinciding with migration outside Africa. Humans then lived in the forests of West Africa and the semi -arid Sahelian regions of North Africa – regions which were previously very rarely populated. Although it cannot be said for sure why this expansion occurred, the authors of the study suggest that climate instability has encouraged humans to widen their niche. Whatever reason, the researchers argue that this gave them a level of flexibility that prepared them for a life in Asia and Europe.

“We show that a successful expansion in Eurasia and the long -term establishment of populations was part of a process that has fundamentally started in Africa”, researchers wrote. “Essentially, we document the beginning of an undoubtedly African process from 70 Ka which has resulted in unequaled human ecological plasticity today.”

Learn more:: Humans were born from two ancestral populations who united 300,000 years ago

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Rosie McCall is an independent writer living in London. She has covered scientific and health subjects for publications, including Iflscience, Newsweek and Health.