New Research Reveals Two History-Changing Discoveries

Our Sapien migration from Africa was far less linear than once believed, but more importantly, the archaic days seems like one big love fest.

Hiya!

When I first saw today’s topic in the news, I dismissed it. But I read about it while tumbling down a different rabbit hole, and boy, oh boy, am I glad I did. This new research is a two-in-one, two-history-changing discovery within a single study, plus bonus findings! So settle in because there’s a lot to get through.

Basically, scientists found strong evidence that our species didn't vacate Africa all at once around 50,000 years ago and suggest Neanderthals weren’t extinct but absorbed into our Sapien population. In other words, this new research rewrites early chapters of Homo history, from our migration out of Africa to how our hominin family members got along — and not just the Neanderthals.

Ever-Changing History

By the time my school years ended, I thought humanity had learned everything we needed to know. I thought there weren’t any more significant discoveries left to be made, that past scientists like Einstein and Galileo had found everything there is to find.

It seems silly now, especially since learning everything I have while writing this newsletter. Actually, this newsletter exists because I realized how wrong I was and saw that I wasn’t alone in my previous assumptions. Many people assume we know a lot more than we do about, well, everything.

The Truth is, we have no idea how much we don’t know. Science is not stagnant but ever-flowing. Our history is not set in stone but is constantly being rewritten and updated — history books are drafts that are continually edited.

And that’s precisely what the research I’m sharing with you today is doing. This study is altering our history books and reframing what it means to be human.

Leaving Africa

Joshua Akey, a professor at Princeton’s Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics and lead researcher of the study I’ll tell you about soon, summarizes best what most of us learned about early Human history. He told Liz Fuller-Wright, who wrote a statement for Princeton about the research:

“To date, most genetic data suggests that modern humans evolved in Africa 250,000 years ago, stayed put for the next 200,000 years, and then decided to disperse out of Africa 50,000 years ago and go on to people the rest of the world.”

Since science goes where the evidence leads, this timeline became the official history of our species, Homo sapiens. If we progress down the timeline, evidence suggested we spread to today's southern Asia and across Europe after migrating out of Africa 50- to 60,000 years ago. But when our early Sapien ancestors arrived, they encountered other species that were different but similar to themselves — other hominins.

What happened after that remained a mystery. For a while, it was assumed our Sapien ancestors killed off the other hominin species, but research over the last few decades shows this assumption is wrong.