How mankind hung by a thread in the Stone Age
Posted on: Thursday, 12 June 2003, 06:00 CDT
THE human race came close to extinction in the Stone Age, according to a study by genetic scientists.
The differences in DNA between 1,056 people living today in 52 regions around the world were studied.
All humans have virtually identical DNA - in contrast to the massive variation in DNA of chimps, our closest relatives.
The small genetic diversity of modern humans indicates that around 70,000 years ago, the human population dwindled to a very low level, possibly just 2,000.
Researchers believe that the human race could quite easily have slipped into extinction if it had been hit with disease or drought.
Survival consequently brought with it a limited genetic diversity, says the study by a team at Stanford University in California.
Sub-Saharan Africa is thought to be the 'cradle' of human life, from where man spread in migrations lasting thousands of years and eventually came to dominate the globe.
Professor Marcus Feldman, of Stanford University, said: 'Our results are consistent with the "out-of-Africa" theory, according to which a sub-Saharan African ancestral population gave rise to all populations of anatomically-modern humans through a chain of migrations to the Middle East, Europe, Asia, Oceania and America.' An earlier genetic study - involving the Y chromosomes of more than 1,000 men from 21 populations - concluded that the first human migration from Africa may have occurred about 66,000 years ago.
The dates of the Stone Age vary considerably for different parts of the world.
It began about two million years ago and ended in Europe and Africa around 4,000BC when human cultures progressed from using stone tools and weapons to metals.
The findings are published in the American Journal of Human Genetics.
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