What Genes and Fossils Tell Us

African Cradle


Most paleoanthropologists and geneticists agree that modern humans arose some 200 000 years ago in Africa. The earliest modern human fossils were found in Omo Kibish, Ethiopia. Sites in Israel hold the earliest evidence of modern humans outside Africa, but that group went no farther, dying out about 90 000 years ago. 

Look at the map below, from National Geographic. Follow the numbers to get a chronological account of the human journey out of Africa. 

You can download a larger version of this map below. 

Human Migration Map