New Pathway for Ancient African Exodus

[Ludovicus]

'New pathway' for African exodus

BBC News

 

 

"Modern humans had reached the Levant by 100,000 years ago

 

Researchers have found a possible new route taken by early modern humans as they expanded out of Africa to colonise the rest of the world. A study published in the journal PNAS proposes a "wet corridor" through Libya for ancient human migrations.

 

Rivers once flowed from the central Saharan watershed all the way to the Mediterranean, the team explains."

 

For the entire article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7668250.stm

[Northern Neil]

Rock - art in the Tibesti and Ahaggar mountain ranges shows people hunting animals such as giraffes and gazelle which are used to a far wetter climate than the present day sahara. I suppose these ranges would have had considerable anmounts of snowfall in times of glaciation further north, so the meltwater had to go somewhere. Given the topography of the proposed ancient rivers, the theory makes sense.

[Ludovicus]

Rock - art in the Tibesti and Ahaggar mountain ranges shows people hunting animals such as giraffes and gazelle which are used to a far wetter climate than the present day sahara. I suppose these ranges would have had considerable anmounts of snowfall in times of glaciation further north, so the meltwater had to go somewhere. Given the topography of the proposed ancient rivers, the theory makes sense.

 

 

Neil,

Very interesting. Don't you get the feeling that scientists have just begun to make discoveries about this crucial period in human history? What revelations await us?

[caldrail]

They've made some startling conclusions already but it never hits the headlines. One theory shows primeval man wandering out of africa during a time of intense pressure which almost saw them extinct. I think its the genetic variation that led to that conclusion, so its an assertion rather than a provable theory, which is probably why such things get mentioned and go no further.