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100,000–11,000 Years Ago 75° Copyrighted Material GREENLAND ICE SHEET 100,000–11,000 years ago 75° the spread of modern humans Berelekh 13,400–10,600 B ( E around the world during A ALASKA la R I ) SCANDINAVIAN n I e Bluefish Cave d N Arctic Circle G g 16,000 d ICE SHEET b G the ice age N i 25,000–10,000 r r i I d I b g e A R d Ice ) E n -fr SIBERIA a Dry Creek e l e B c All modern humans are descended from populations of ( o 35,000 Dyuktai Cvae 13,500 rri do 18,000 r Homo sapiens that lived in Africa c. 200,000 years ago. op LAURENTIDE en s ICE SHEET 1 Malaya Sya Around 60,000 years ago a small group of humans left 4 CORDILLERAN ,0 Cresswell 34,000 0 Africa and over the next 50,000 years its descendants 0 ICE SHEET – Crags 1 2 14,000 colonized all the world’s other continents except Antarctica, ,0 Wally’s Beach 0 Paviland Cave Mal’ta 0 EUROPE Mezhirich Mladecˇ in the process replacing all other human species. These 13,000–11,000 y 29,000 Denisova Cave 24,000 . 15,000 a 33,000 45,000 . Kostenki 41,000 migrations were aided by low sea levels during glaciations, Willendorf 40,000 Lascaux 41,700–39,500 which created land bridges linking islands and continents: Kennewick Cro Magnon 17,000 9,300 45° humans were able to reach most parts of the world on foot. Spirit 30,000 Cave Meadowcroft Altamira It was in this period of initial colonization of the globe that 10,600 Rockshelter 14,000 16,000 Lagar Velho Hintabayashi Tianyuan JAPAN modern racial characteristics evolved. CLOVIS SITES 24,000 30,000 Folsom 40,000 30,000 13,500 Modern humans had first migrated out of Africa Arlington Springs 11,000 El Guettar Blackwater Draw CHINA Hamamatsu c. 100,000 years ago, probably following the Nile valley and 13,000 40,000 Skhul and Qafzeh 18,000 (Clovis) Jebel Irhoud 120,000–90,000 50,000 crossing the isthmus of Suez into the Levant. For unknown 13,300 160,000 NORTH AFRICA Haua Fteah 47,000 LEVANT 100,000 SOUTH ASIA reasons, the descendants of these pioneers died out within Little Salt Spring 100,000 70,000 Okinawa 12,000 a few thousand years, leaving the area to the Neanderthals. SAHARA DESERT Bhimbetka 32,000 Peñon Bir Tarfawi 30,000 Tropic of Cancer Some 40,000 years later, another small group of modern 13,000 130,000 humans migrated out of Africa, perhaps crossing the Red Sea from the Horn of Africa to Arabia. In the Middle East, Singa Jwalapuram 74,000? they encountered Neanderthals. All non-African modern 155,000 Tabon Cave humans carry small traces of Neanderthal DNA so relations Herto 22,000 160,000 between the two were not necessarily hostile. Omo Kibish Fa Hien and 195,000 Niah Cave From the Middle East, modern humans quickly spread Batadomba Caves 38,000 35,000 east to India and Southeast Asia, replacing the indigenous ANCESTRAL ANATOMICALLY MODERN HUMANS SUNDA Equator Matenkupkum populations. By 50,000 years ago, humans had reached 200,000 (land bridge) Pedra Pintada 31,000 11,200 Laetoli Australia and New Guinea, which at that time formed a 120,000 Flores Buka 24,000 single continent. At no point did sea levels ever fall low 18,000 Bobangara Guiterrero Cave Ngandong SAHU SOUTH Pedra Furada (land L 38,000 enough to link Australia to Southeast Asia, so for this 12,600 50,000 bridg AMERICA 11,000 (Java) e) migration some form of seafaring technology was 14,500 required. Around this time also, the first modern humans Quebrada Jaguay 13,000 arrived in China, reaching Japan c. 30,000 years ago. Lagoa Santa Perhaps because of the harsh glacial conditions, modern 12,500 AUSTRALIA Tropic of Capricorn Range of Neanderthals Apollo 11 Cave 50,000 humans did not begin colonizing Europe until c. 45,000 Modern coastline c. 100,000 years ago 25,500-23,500 years ago. Modern humans gradually replaced indigenous Maximum extent of ice caps AUSTRALIA Approximate date of arrival Border Cave Lake Mungo Neanderthals, who became extinct c. 30,000 years ago. c. 18,000 years ago 50,000 of anatomically modern humans 100,000 42,000 The last continents to be colonized by humans were the Fossils of anatomically Blombos Cave Devil’s Lair Ice caps c. 12,000 years ago 75,000 Klasies River Mouth 48,000 Americas. Alaska was reached c. 16,000 years ago from modern humans 90,000–65,000 Monte Verde Ice caps c. 10,000 years ago Pinnacle Point Northeast Asia via the Bering Sea land bridge, but further Homo erectus 14,500 164,000 Bluff Rockshelter progress was barred until the continental ice sheets began Area of evolution of Homo floresiensis 30,500 to retreat c. 14,000 years ago. By this time, other groups anatomically modern humans 45° Migration routes of had already bypassed the ice sheets by migrating along the Other human species Pacific coast, reaching South America by 14,500 years ago. anatomically modern humans Occupation sites Fell’s Cave 14 11,000 150° 120° 90° 60° 30° 0° 30° 60° 90° 120° 150° 180°.
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