Copyrighted Material
GREENLAND
ICE SHEET
100,000–11,000 years ago
BER
(land I N G
brid I A
ge)
Bluefish Cave
25,000–10,000
Icef
Dry Creek
13,500
ree
SIBERIA
35,000
cor
rid
or
op
e
LAURENTIDE
ICE SHEET
0
,00
Paviland Cave
29,000
y.a.
00
Arlington Springs
13,000
2,0
–1
Wally’s Beach
13,000–11,000
Kennewick
9,300
Folsom
11,000
Cro Magnon
30,000
Altamira
14,000
Lagar Velho
24,000
Meadowcroft
Rockshelter
16,000
CLOVIS SITES
13,500
Blackwater Draw
(Clovis)
13,300
Mladecˇ EUROPE Mezhirich
33,000 45,000 15,000
Willendorf
Lascaux
41,700–39,500
17,000
Jebel Irhoud
160,000
NORTH AFRICA
100,000
Peñon
13,000
45°
SOUTH ASIA
70,000
Bhimbetka
30,000
Bir Tarfawi
130,000
Omo Kibish
195,000
Guiterrero Cave
12,600
SOUTH
AMERICA
14,500
Quebrada Jaguay
13,000
Maximum extent of ice caps
c. 18,000 years ago
Fossils of anatomically
modern humans
Ice caps c. 10,000 years ago
Homo erectus
Area of evolution of
anatomically modern humans
Homo floresiensis
Migration routes of
anatomically modern humans
Other human species
Niah Cave
38,000
Ngandong
50,000
(Java)
Lagoa Santa
12,500
Flores
18,000
SAH
(land br U L
idge
)
Matenkupkum
31,000
Buka 24,000
Bobangara
38,000
AUSTRALIA
50,000
Border Cave
100,000
Tropic of Capricorn
Lake Mungo
42,000
Devil’s Lair
48,000
Klasies River Mouth
90,000–65,000
Pinnacle Point
164,000
Monte Verde
14,500
Equator
SUNDA
(land bridge)
Blombos Cave
75,000
Bluff Rockshelter
30,500
45°
Fell’s Cave
11,000
Occupation sites
120°
Fa Hien and
Batadomba Caves
35,000
Apollo 11 Cave
25,500-23,500
14
150°
Tropic of Cancer
Tabon
Cave
22,000
Pedra Furada
11,000
AUSTRALIA Approximate date of arrival
50,000 of anatomically modern humans
Ice caps c. 12,000 years ago
Herto
160,000
JAPAN
30,000
Hamamatsu
18,000
Okinawa
32,000
Jwalapuram
74,000?
ANCESTRAL ANATOMICALLY
MODERN HUMANS
200,000
Laetoli
120,000
Range of Neanderthals
c. 100,000 years ago
Modern coastline
Hintabayashi
30,000
CHINA
50,000
Skhul and Qafzeh
120,000–90,000
LEVANT
100,000
Haua Fteah
47,000
Singa
155,000
Pedra Pintada
11,200
Dyuktai Cvae
18,000
Tianyuan
40,000
SAHARA DESERT
Arctic Circle
Mal’ta
24,000
Denisova Cave
41,000
Kostenki
40,000
El Guettar
40,000
Little Salt Spring
12,000
B
(l E
Malaya Sya
34,000
Cresswell
Crags
14,000
14
CORDILLERAN
ICE SHEET
Spirit
Cave
10,600
Berelekh
13,400–10,600
SCANDINAVIAN
ICE SHEET
ns
All modern humans are descended from populations of
Homo sapiens that lived in Africa c. 200,000 years ago.
Around 60,000 years ago a small group of humans left
Africa and over the next 50,000 years its descendants
colonized all the world’s other continents except Antarctica,
in the process replacing all other human species. These
migrations were aided by low sea levels during glaciations,
which created land bridges linking islands and continents:
humans were able to reach most parts of the world on foot.
It was in this period of initial colonization of the globe that
modern racial characteristics evolved.
Modern humans had first migrated out of Africa
c. 100,000 years ago, probably following the Nile valley and
crossing the isthmus of Suez into the Levant. For unknown
reasons, the descendants of these pioneers died out within
a few thousand years, leaving the area to the Neanderthals.
Some 40,000 years later, another small group of modern
humans migrated out of Africa, perhaps crossing the Red
Sea from the Horn of Africa to Arabia. In the Middle East,
they encountered Neanderthals. All non-African modern
humans carry small traces of Neanderthal DNA so relations
between the two were not necessarily hostile.
From the Middle East, modern humans quickly spread
east to India and Southeast Asia, replacing the indigenous
populations. By 50,000 years ago, humans had reached
Australia and New Guinea, which at that time formed a
single continent. At no point did sea levels ever fall low
enough to link Australia to Southeast Asia, so for this
migration some form of seafaring technology was
required. Around this time also, the first modern humans
arrived in China, reaching Japan c. 30,000 years ago.
Perhaps because of the harsh glacial conditions, modern
humans did not begin colonizing Europe until c. 45,000
years ago. Modern humans gradually replaced indigenous
Neanderthals, who became extinct c. 30,000 years ago.
The last continents to be colonized by humans were the
Americas. Alaska was reached c. 16,000 years ago from
Northeast Asia via the Bering Sea land bridge, but further
progress was barred until the continental ice sheets began
to retreat c. 14,000 years ago. By this time, other groups
had already bypassed the ice sheets by migrating along the
Pacific coast, reaching South America by 14,500 years ago.
ALASKA
16,000
IA
G ge)
I N id
R d br
an
the spread of modern humans
around the world during
the ice age
75°
90°
60°
30°
0°
30°
60°
90°
120°
150°
180°