How Early Humans Migrated into Europe: The Origins of Our Ancient Ancestors

Thousands of years ago, humans migrated out of Africa. Yet exactly where they migrated to first and what paths they used has long remained speculation. Now, scientists are hunting down the exact routes of this ancient, human migration, allowing us to learn a little bit more about our past ancestors.

About 60,000 years ago, humans began to disperse across the world. While current human mitochondrial phylogeny represents those originally from north and central Europe, though, it fails to take into account other human populations. That's why researchers decided to take a closer look at human migration, learning a bit more about human populations.

In order to better understand human origins, researchers decided to use DNA evidence. They compared data from modern samples across the world to ancient bones and samples that they've been able to find. These ancient samples included fossilized teeth and bones.

"It's like forensics but even more so," said Martin Richards, a professor at the University of Huddersfield and one of the researchers, in a news release.

In the end, the researchers found new evidence that indicated early humans migrated into Europe after the Last Glacial Maximum, a time in Earth's history when the ice sheets were at their maximum extension between 26,500 and 19,000 years ago. However, this migration occurred before Neolithic times, a period also referred to as the New Stone age that was known for the development of human technology. This gives scientists a clearer picture of how early humans were developing at this time.

The findings reveal a little bit more about the migration of humans across the continents. This could allow scientists to better understand how distinct genetic populations developed and also shows how our ancient ancestors may have lived thousands of years ago.

The findings are published in the journal PLOS One.