Though fossils of hominids have been found dating back millions of years, the earliest known Homo sapiens remains are considered to be the bones of five individuals found at Jebel Irhoud, in present-day Morocco. The discovery of these fossils pushes back the oldest fossil evidence of the homo sapiens by 300,000 years. The previous oldest Homo sapiens remains came from Omo Kibish, in Ethiopia, and date to 195,000 years ago. From this area, humans spread out to cover all continents except Antarctica by 14,000 BP. According to a recent theory, humans may have crossed over into the Arabian Peninsula as early as 125,000 years ago. From the Middle East, migration continued into India around 70,000 years ago, and Southeast Asia shortly after. Settlers could have crossed over to Australia and New Guinea â€" that were united as one continent (Sundaland and Sahul) at the time due to lower sea levels â€" as early as 55,000 years ago. Migration into Europe took somewhat longer to occur; the first definite evidence of human settlement on this continent has been discovered in southern Italy, and dates back 43-45,000 years. Settlement of Europe may have occurred as early as 45,000 years ago though, according to genetic research. The Americas were populated by humans at least as early as 14,800 years ago, though there is great uncertainty about the exact time and manner in which the Americas were populated. More remote parts of the world, like Iceland, New Zealand and Madagascar were not populated until the historic era.
The following table shows any geographical region at some point defined as a country â€" not necessarily a modern-day sovereign state â€" or any geographically distinct area such as an island, with the date of the first known or hypothesised human settlement. Dates are, unless specifically stated, approximate. Settlements are not necessarily continuous; settled areas in some cases become depopulated due to environmental conditions, such as glacial periods or the Toba volcanic eruption. Where applicable, information is also given on the exact location where the settlement was discovered, and further information about the discovery. Some dates are based on genetic research (mitochondrial, or matrilinear DNA), and not on archaeological finds.
The list
What Are The Oldest Human Remains Ever Found? - The list. Anatomically modern human remains of five individuals dated 300000 years old, making them the oldest remains ever found. The Omo remains found in 1967 near the Ethiopian Kibish Mountains...
See also
- Early human migrations
- Pre-modern human migration
- Human evolution
- List of human evolution fossils
- Timeline of human evolution
References
External links
- Atlas of the Human Journey â€" National Geographic
- Journey of Mankind â€" Genetic Map â€" Bradshaw Foundation
