Historical story

Homo sapiens left Africa much earlier than thought, but to areas without Neanderthals and a warm climate

Recently researched Gay sapiens teeth mess up all of history. If we thought that our ancestors migrated from Africa to Europe about 45,000 years ago, 47 teeth of at least 80,000 years old have been found in China. How about that?

The Out of Africa theory where the superior Homo sapiens quickly conquered the world, it can definitely go in the trash. Gay sapiens has avoided areas with Neanderthals and other human species, according to Dr. Mark Sier. He is one of the scientists (archaeologist and geologist, Utrecht University and Leiden University) who participated in the research into 47 very old Chinese teeth. The research results were published on 14 October in the scientific journal Nature .

No baby teeth

Among other things, Sier looked at the sediment layers of the Fuyang Caves where the 47 teeth were found, in the southern Chinese province of Daoxian. “Geology in caves can be quite complex, with many layers, but in this case it wasn't too bad. The three-hundred-square-metre cave contains four geological sediment layers, of which the top and thus the youngest layer turned out to be at least 80,000 years old. It is important that this layer is not disturbed, that is to say that no remains that are younger can lie under it. The teeth were found in the layer below, scattered all over the cave. The teeth are therefore also at least 80,000 years old, but probably even older, at most 120,000 years.”

That these are teeth of Homo sapiens and not of another human species was soon apparent by its shape and size. They were once in the mouths of at least thirteen modern people of adulthood. At least there were no milk teeth. But what happened to the bodies of these people? Sier:“The bones will have perished. It's not surprising that we only found teeth. This is often the case with animals from this region. The enamel of your teeth is the most resistant material in the human body and lasts the longest. We do not know how and why these people died.”

The diet of these early ancestors is also unclear:the tartar has not been studied. Sier:“We did find teeth with holes in them. It is sometimes thought that people only started getting cavities when they settled down as farmers, but that is not true. Plaque was also normal before that time, you can't escape that even with a paleo diet.”

Afraid of other human species

The theory that the superior Homo sapiens 45,000 years ago from Africa and conquered the world via Europe with its tools and large brain capacity, had already been partially destroyed before. Gay sapiens moved in increments, reaching the Levant ahead of Europe. But no hard evidence had yet been found for an older route further east. For example, in southern Arabia, scientists had found older tools, but no fossil bones. As a result, it could not be determined with certainty that the Homo sapiens who had taken this migratory route. Several teeth that appeared to be more than 50,000 years old had also been found in southern China. But they had never been preserved well enough to serve as indisputable evidence. Until now.

The superiority of Homo sapiens seems to have been removed permanently due to the location of the 47 teeth. Sier:“With this find we have been able to establish that Homo sapiens departed from Africa between 120,000 and 80,000 years ago and ended up in southern China. The big question now is why. It seems that the presence of other human species was a barrier to our ancestors. The Neanderthals, for example, had been in Europe for hundreds of thousands of years and were well adapted to the colder climate there. This also applied to northern China, where other human species already lived. The tropical Homo sapiens had a preference for calmer and warmer areas and seems to have spread mainly in the same climatic zone as it was used to. This theory still needs further research. The only thing that is one hundred percent certain is that all human species were in Africa two million years ago. But how the migration flows went after that remains very complex.”

Read more about early people on Kennislink