Although there are still many things to be discovered about human evolution, here comes a study published by the scientific magazine Nature that can overturn the current assumptions on human migration. A series of 47 teeth discovered by a team of researchers from China suggests that Homo sapiens actually left Africa at least 20,000 years earlier than it was previously thought.
The fossilized teeth have been founded in the floor of a cave whose massive limestone layers are as old as 80,000 years, in the region of Daoxian, China, alongside fossils of hyenas, dozens of giant pandas and other animals. Radioactive dating of the animal fossils confirmed them to date from the late Pleistocene era.
However since there were no tools or other household items found in the cave the scientists concluded that the people did not live in caves, but they were forced in by predators.
Co-author of the study -Maria Martinon-Torres, anthropologist at University College London declared: “I have no doubt on the origin of teeth discovered in the Fuyan cave. (…) Their morphology fits the anatomically modern man from back then and from modern era. What really surprised us was the age of the teeth, especially taking into account the site on which they have been discovered. ”
According to the study, the teeth may be 120,000 years old. And in this case, the idea that Homo sapiens started in Africa 200,000 years ago but didn’t continue his global migration until 60,000 years ago is no longer valid. Therefor people would have arrived in East Asia 30,000 to 70,000 years earlier than in Europe.
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