This linked article begins with the following statement: “A new paper on ancient DNA (aDNA) posits that every person on the planet is descended from hunter-gatherers in Africa”. This is news? I thought that was already the accepted theory. “The researchers looked at ancient DNA from as far back as 18,000 years ago. This information, they say, has helped them understand more about how modern humans were moving and interacting with another in Africa long ago.” Okay, so we know more about how those ancient humans were interacting, but still.
Our primitive ancestors left Africa somewhere between 80,000 and 60,000 years ago. But, as the article states, “something major happened around 50,000 years ago. This event changed how the people of Africa mixed and moved. Where the foragers had previously found partners away from their local areas, sometime around 20,000 years ago, most foragers in some regions were almost exclusively finding their partners in the local region. The researchers say this must have continued for some time, as the remains of ancient DNA didn’t appear to match with neighbors for several thousand years.” So the cavemen started sticking closer to home to find mates. Clans became more insular. Why? They don’t know.
