Ancient Human Survival: Escaping Climate Extinction 900,000 Years Ago
A new study has found that a mass migration of humans out of Africa occurred around 900,000 years ago, coinciding with a population bottleneck that brought modern humanity's ancestors to the brink of extinction. This migration was likely a response to a severe climate trigger during the Mid-Pleistocene Transition, which caused arid conditions in Africa and prompted early Homo populations to adapt or migrate to avoid extinction. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provide insight into how ancient humans managed to escape climate-induced extinction.