Real ‘Garden of Eden’ where ALL humans originated 200,000 years ago finally found in Botswana
SCIENTISTS have identified the real “Garden of Eden” where humans first walked the Earth.
They believe our ancestral homeland lies to the south of the Zambezi River, in northern Botswana.
It is here that the earliest ancestors of everyone alive today probably arose 200,000 years ago.
The region was then thought to be lush green and home to an enormous lake.
It allowed Homo sapiens sapiens to thrive for 70,000 years until climate change forced our forefathers to disperse.
This paved the way for humans to migrate out of Africa, and ultimately, across the world.
Fossil finds had suggested humans arose in eastern Africa and genetic analyses had hinted at southern Africa.
But new research has pinpointed the location to the Makgadikgadi wetlands.
The lake was twice the size of modern day Lake Victoria but the area is now largely desert and salt pans.
A global team of researchers used genetics, geology and physics to map the bloodline and the land.
Prof Vanessa Hayes, from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, in Australia, said it was the first time the site has been located.
She added: “It has been clear for some time that anatomically modern humans appeared in Africa roughly 200,000 years ago.
“What has been long debated is the exact location of this emergence and subsequent dispersal of our earliest ancestors.
“This is the first time the exact location has been identified.”
A timeline of life on Earth
The history of the planet in years...
- 4.6billion years ago – the origin of Earth
- 3.8billion years ago – first life appears on Earth
- 2.1billion years ago – lifeforms made up of multiple cells evolve
- 1.5billion years ago – eukaryotes, which are cells that contain a nucleus inside of their membranes, emerge
- 550million years ago – first arthropods evolve
- 530million years ago – first fish appear
- 470million years ago – first land plants appear
- 380million years ago – forests emerge on Earth
- 370million years ago – first amphibians emerge from the water onto land
- 320million years ago – earliest reptiles evolve
- 230million years ago – dinosaurs evolve
- 200million years ago – mammals appear
- 150million years ago – earliest birds evolve
- 130million years ago – first flowering plants
- 100million years ago – earliest bees
- 55million years ago – hares and rabbits appear
- 30million years ago – first cats evolve
- 20million years ago – great apes evolve
- 7million years ago –first human ancestors appear
- 2million years ago – Homo erectus appears
- 200,000 years ago – Homo sapiens evolves
- 50,000 years ago – Eurasia and Oceania colonised
- 40,000 years ago – Neandethal extinction
Our ancestors migrated out of the homeland between 130,000 and 110,000 years ago.
The first migrants ventured north, followed by a second wave that travelled south west. A third population remained.
The findings are published in the journal Nature.
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