Did all modern humans really originate in Northern Botswana?

Press/Media: Expert Comment

Description

This piece was written in response to a publication in Nature on 28th October which claimed to show that all modern humans originated 200, 000 years ago in a region centred on Northern Botswana. Like many of my palaeoanthropological colleagues, I remained not entirely convinced, and this article explains why. It pairs with a similar The Conversation piece written by the original study's authors.

Period31 Oct 2019

Media contributions

1

Media contributions

  • TitleBotswana is humanity’s ancestral home, claims major study – well, actually…
    Degree of recognitionInternational
    Media name/outletThe Conversation
    Media typeWeb
    Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
    Date31/10/19
    DescriptionA recent paper in the prestigious journal Nature claims to show that modern humans originated about 200,000 years ago in the region around northern Botswana. For a scientist like myself who studies human origins, this is exciting news. If correct, this paper would suggest that we finally know where our species comes from.

    But there are actually several reasons why I and some of my colleagues are not entirely convinced. In fact, there’s good reason to believe that our species doesn’t even have a single origin.
    URLhttps://theconversation.com/botswana-is-humanitys-ancestral-home-claims-major-study-well-actually-126130
    PersonsIsabelle Winder
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