According to evidence from multiple sources, fossils, archaeology, and genetics, anatomically modern humans—Homo sapiens—had evolved in Africa by 200,000 years ago. In his chapter in The Oxford Handbook of Archaeology, Steven Mithen writes:
“It appears, therefore, that by 190,000 years ago the first H. sapiens populations were present in East Africa; they communicated by language and most likely had all the attributes of modern human cognition. Once present, a new phase of the peopling of the world was about to begin.”
Some researchers have suggested that modern humans began leaving Africa as early as 130,000 years ago while others feel the data indicates that the migration began only 60,000 years ago. By 46,000 years ago, Homo sapiens had reached both Europe and Lake Mungo in Australia. The fact that they had reached Australia by this time is an indication that they had some sort of watercraft.
One common viewpoint is expressed by Genevieve von Petzinger, in her 2016 book The First Signs: Unlocking the Mysteries of the World’s Oldest Symbols:
“In a nutshell, the main waves of migration out of Africa started around 60,000 years ago with environmental conditions in the Near East playing a key role in opening up this route.”
Some of the current archaeological and fossil data seems to suggest that modern humans were leaving Africa before 60,000 years ago. Archaeological data shows that culturally distinct groups had migrated from Africa to the Arabian Peninsula between 127,000 and 106,000 years ago. While this is a desert today, during the Eemian Interglacial it was a fertile, habitable ecosystem.
Human remains have been found at the Al Wusuta site in the Nefund Desert in Saudi Arabia. This site has been dated to 85,000 to 90,000 years ago and it shows the early arrival of Homo sapiens in the area.
At the rock shelter Jebel Faya in the United Arab Emirates there are stone tools in the oldest layer which date back to 127,000 to 95,000 years ago. These tool traditions are unrelated to those in the Levant and suggest a possible connection with East Africa.
A modern human jawbone discovered at Misliya, Mount Carmel, in Northern Israel, has been dated to 127,000 to 194,000 years ago. Chris Catling, in a 2018 report in Current World Archaeology, writes:
“This tells us that our ancestors left Africa not 60,000 years ago, as some argue, but up to 200,000 years ago.”
Chris Catling also reports:
“It is possible that the Misliya cave humans of 200,000 years ago became extinct and that we are, in fact, descended from humans who migrated as recently as 60,000 years ago.”
Steven Mithen summarizes it this way:
“This initial spread of H. sapiens from Africa does not appear to have had any long-term significance, as the genetic evidence suggests that all living people derived from a dispersal from Africa that took place after 60,000 years ago.”
The earlier populations that left Africa before about 60,000 years ago appear to have gone extinct. One contributing factor to this extinction may have been the eruption of Mount Toba. In a report in Archaeology, Marley Brown writes:
“The cataclysmic eruption 74,000 years ago of Sumatra’s Mount Toba caused a volcanic winter and may have nearly annihilated the earth’s human population.”
Migrants who had left Africa earlier and who had settled in India and Southeast Asia would have gone extinct as a result of this event.
A Single Modern Human Migration?
Was there just one migration from Africa by modern humans or were there multiple migrations, perhaps using different routes? Steven Mithen writes:
“The current genetic evidence suggests that a small number of individuals from one single population lineage in Africa most likely crossed the Afar Straits and then spread rapidly into South Asia. Here the lineage diverged, with dispersals into South-East Asia and into Central Asia, the latter providing the route into Europe (as opposed to this being the Jordan Valley, as had been assumed from the archaeological evidence alone).”
Using genetic data, Christopher Seddon, in his book Humans: From the Beginning, writes:
“It is widely believed that there was just one migration from Africa, and that the founder haplogroups M, N and R were associated with it.”
Christopher Seddon goes on to report:
“Estimates based on mitochondrial genetic data suggest that the initial migratory group included no more than 500 to 2000 reproductively-active women.”
A total population of around 3,000 has been suggested for the migration. Christopher Seddon sums it up this way:
“It is widely accepted that the non-African world is largely populated by the descendants of a small group of modern humans thought to have left Africa around 65,000 years ago.”
More Human Origins
Human Origins: Leaving Africa, Ancient Humans (Part 1 of 4)
Human Origins: Domesticating Fire
Human Origins: Cannibalism
Human Origins: Menopause
Human Origins: The Mind
Human Origins: The Large Brain
Human Origins: The Human Hand
Human Origins: Bipedalism