Paleolithic migrations and the Mesolithic  

Paleolithic migrations and the Mesolithic

The story of how modern humans populated the world after leaving their ancestral home in Africa.

No comments | 200000BC - 8000BC

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Paleolithic migrations and the Mesolithic

12 events | No comments | 200000BC - 8000BC

200000BC

Emergence of homo sapiens

The final stage of our biological evolution took place somewhere around 200 000 years ago. This is the time when anatomically modern humans emerged in East Africa, probably descendants of either Homo ergaster, Homo heidelbergensis or Homo rhodesiensis...

200000BC

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70000BC

Migrations out of Africa

Homo sapiens as a species had evolved in Sub-Saharan Africa, namely East Africa, but this region was almost totally isolated from the other continents by the inhospitable Saharan desert in the north and by seas and oceans from all sides...

70000BC

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60000BC

Indian Ocean coastal migrations

The earliest migrants from Africa were not adapted to the climate of Eurasia’s northern latitudes, so it was quite natural that they first followed along the long tropical coast of the Indian Ocean which also provided a suprisingly fast migration route...

60000BC

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50000BC

The settling of Australia

This first wave of migration out of Africa was also the only one that led to the peopling of the continent of Australia. In many ways it is surprising that regardless of technological advances, none of the consequent generations gave any significant...

50000BC

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40000BC

Migrations into East Asia

Human existence in China goes back to Homo erectus who might have lived there more than 1 million years ago. It is still a matter of debate, however, whether these hominids or any other species contributed to the Asian genetic pool or not...

40000BC

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The settling of Central Asia and Siberia

Initially, human migrations tended to follow coastal routes. However, 40 000 years ago at the latest, some groups had settled in Central Asia which was at that time full of tropical trees, a good place for hunting and fishing...

40000BC

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Migrations into Europe

Although Europe seems geographically close to Africa, it was populated by modern humans relatively late, probably because of the cold Ice Age climate, but maybe also because it was inhabited by Neanderthals...

40000BC

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35000BC

The settling of Japan

According to genetic evidence, Japan was probably settled in around 35 000 years ago by the first wave of human migrations which had followed the coastline up from South-East Asia and continued to North-East Asia and Siberia...

35000BC

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13000BC

The settling of the Americas

The initial settling of the Americas has been a matter of debate for several centuries and the debate has especially intensified in recent decades in the light of new archaeological information...

13000BC

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12000BC

Upper Paleolithic art and culture

The Upper Paleolithic or the Late Stone Age is a period in human history which is associated with the emergence of behavioural modernity, the emergence of art and burial customs which probably also refer to the existence of cultural creativity,...

12000BC

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10000BC

Mesolithic Western Europe

The end of the last Ice Age also marks the end of the Paleolithic period. However, in Europe this did not coincide with the beginning of the Neolithic and the adoption of farming, thus the intermediate period involving the populating of the northern...

10000BC

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8000BC

Mesolithic Eastern Europe

The Mesolithic period in Eastern Europe was much longer as the „Neolithic package“ arrived much later and not so suddenly and coherently. For example, pottery was introduced to Eastern Europe in around 5000 BC and sedentary lifestyle seems to have been...

8000BC

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