Journey of Man

JOURNEY OF MAN

“Where do we all come from?” Today, some six billion people are spread across the planet. But there was a time – not so long ago-when the human species numbered only a few thousand and their world was single continent: Africa.

Then something happened. A small group left their African homeland on a journey into an unknown, hostile world. Against impossible odds, these extraordinary explorers not only survived but went on to conquer the earth. Their story can finally be told through the science of genetics. Dr. Spencer Wells is part of a team that had been re-writing history. He has been disentangling this epic story from evidence all people carry with them – in their DNA – inherited from those ancient travelers.

Some important conclusions arise from this journey:

 The story of our DNA starts in the Kalahari Desert where the San Bushmen live. We go back 50,000 years from there.  80,000 year old bones were found in Die Kelders Cave in South Africa. We know that they had simple stone tools. It was the Middle Stone Age.  The group that left Africa arrived in Queensland, Australia. Evidence was found from rock paintings. Aborigines have song lines that say they are originally from Australia.  They arrived from along the coast of India. 50,000 years ago approx. 10% left Africa towards Australia through India.  45,000 years ago others struck out from Africa to the Middle East because of the Ice Age and drought.  Africa is the cradle of civilization, Central Asia is its nursery. Our ancestors went through Central Asia 40,000 YA due to grazing animals (they honed their hunting skills and adapted to cold).  Caves in Southern France show the first to arrive in Europe: the Cro Magnon. They arrived from Africa 35,000 YA. They had a cold, dark life which explains lighter skin adaptations.  One nomadic group left Khazakstan (central Asia) straight northeast into the Ice Age. 13,000 YA they crossed an ice sheet into Alaska. These descendants of Siberia (10-20 individuals) made their way down the American west coast over 800 years.  Navaho indigenous people have their own Creation Story that say they are from the mountains. Yet they carry the same central Asian genetic marker as Niyazov from Kyrgystan.