The question of where humanity originated has captivated scientists and researchers for centuries. While the search for our earliest ancestors has spanned the globe, accumulating evidence increasingly points to Africa as the definitive cradle of civilization.
Fossil Evidence: Unearthing Our Ancestral Roots
Our human species, known as Homo sapiens, most likely evolved between 150,000 and 200,000 years ago. Of all the fossils we've discovered across the world, the oldest were found in Africa. Nearly a century later, archeologists uncovered fossilized parts of human skeletons in Omo Kibish, Ethiopia.
Archeologists have also been hunting for skeletons on other continents. In the Middle East, ancient Homo sapien skeletons have been found dating back to 92,000 years ago. It turns out that other human species probably lived in parts of Europe and Asia much earlier than the ancient Homo sapiens found in Africa.
While fossil evidence is incomplete, each discovery offers invaluable insights into our origins. Scientists don’t have any problem finding human fossils that are older than the ones found in Africa. The skull shape and size of ancestors and closest relatives of Homo sapiens.
DNA: A Genetic Journey Through Time
The human journey-- a genetic odyssey: Spencer Wells at TEDxConnecticutCollege
Luckily, we also have DNA to verify what we’ve learned from fossils. We can learn more about human origins by looking at the DNA of people alive today. Over time DNA can accumulate changes called mutations. The different spots on the genome where these mutations have occurred are called genetic markers.
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Scientists can compare the genetic markers of different populations to build a big family tree. In this family tree, the bars at the tip of each branch represent different indigenous populations from across the world. Two bars that are more closely connected have a more recent common ancestor. Bars that are separated by many branch points have a more ancient common ancestor.
Scientists can also use our human family tree to predict the age of our most recent common ancestor. When we look at the genetic diversity of populations all across the globe, it is highest in African populations.
Most people believe that humans traveled out of Africa in small groups. In the same way, the small communities of Africans who settled in Europe and Asia had only a small fraction of the genetic diversity found in the larger population of Africans who stayed in Africa.
As humans have moved around the globe, there have been several founder (or “bottleneck) events. One important note here is that the genome of all modern day humans is >99.9% identical.
Key Fossil Sites in Africa
While DNA research has been important for understanding the origin of modern humans, it is not the only source of information that we have. Information from fossil records has also been equally important in understanding early human evolution.
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Olduvai Gorge: A Window into Human Evolution
The Olduvai Gorge is a famous site located within the Great Rift Valley in East Africa. It is located between the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti. The Olduvai Gorge has provided us with the most continuous record showing the evolution of humans during the past 2 million years.
In 1959, Mary Leakey discovered fossilised parts of a skull and upper teeth of a type of hominin that had not been previously identified. Mary and her husband, Louis Leakey, classified their find as an entirely new category of hominin, the Zinjanthropus boisei.
The Cradle of Humankind: A South African Treasure
The “Cradle of Humankind” is located in South Africa and is the world’s richest hominin site - around 40% of the world’s human ancestor fossils have been uncovered in this region. The site currently occupies 47,000 hectares (120,000 acres) and contains a complex system of limestone caves. Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999, the site is home to the largest known concentration of human ancestral remains anywhere in the world.
In 1924, a fossil discovery of a juvenile primate’s skull was found on the edge of the Kalahari Desert, it was named “Taung’s child”. Raymond Dart determined that “Tanug’s child” had walked upright like a human and described his discovery as the Australopithecus africanus(“southern ape of Africa”).
The Sterkfontein Caves were the site of the discovery of a 2.3-million-year-old fossil Australopithecus africanus (nicknamed "Mrs. Ples"), found in 1947 by Robert Broom and John T. Robinson. Sterkfontein alone has produced more than a third of early hominid fossils found prior to 2010.
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In 2015, Berger announced the discovery of a new species of human relative, named Homo naledi, from UW-101. Homo naledi also appears to have intentionally deposited bodies of its dead in a remote cave chamber, a behaviour previously thought limited to later Homo species.
The hominin remains that fossilised over time at the Cradle of Humankind are found in dolomitic caves, and are often encased in a mixture of limestone and other sediments called breccia.
Key Fossil Discoveries in the Cradle of Humankind:
| Fossil | Year of Discovery | Location | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mrs. Ples (Australopithecus africanus) | 1947 | Sterkfontein Caves | 2.3-million-year-old fossil |
| Taung Child (Australopithecus africanus) | 1924 | Edge of the Kalahari Desert | Juvenile primate skull |
| Little Foot (Australopithecus skeleton) | 1997 | Sterkfontein Caves | Near-complete skeleton, approximately 2.5 million years old |
| Homo naledi | 2015 | Rising Star Cave System | New species of human relative with unique burial behavior |
Pan-African Origins: A Broader Perspective
Accumulating fossil evidence suggests that early H. sapiens populations were inhabiting radically different African regions, ranging from rainforests to deserts. Meanwhile, genetic studies and archaeological evidence are unveiling vast social networks connecting these ancient African societies.
Incorporating Central Africa into humans’ evolutionary story is not only essential for capturing the huge array of environments early H. sapiens populations inhabited, but also for understanding how they managed to do so. Which behavioral and anatomical changes allowed them to live in such disparate locations?
This slowly emerging paradigm turns our origin story on its head-again. It implies that early H.
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