Humans Came to Brink Of Extinction 70,000 Years Ago

A Stony Brook University study forged since 2005 has revealed evidence that early hominids lived in tiny, separate bands for 100,000 years, and came incredibly close to extinction some 70,000 years ago. Extremes in climate helped contribute to an estimated dwindling down to about 2,000 humans worldwide.

The genetic study examined for the first time the evolution of our species from its origins with “mitochondrial Eve,” a female hominid who lived some 200,000 years ago, to the point of near extinction 70,000 years ago, when the human population dwindled to as little as 2,000.

After this dismal period, the human race expanded quickly all over the African continent and emigrated beyond its shores until it populated all the corners of the Earth.

The expansion marked the end of the Stone Age in Africa and the beginning of a cultural advancement that has led several archeologists to consider it the start of modern man, with the advent of language and complex and abstract thought.

The migrations out of Africa are estimated to have begun some 60,000 years ago. But little was known about the human trajectory between Eve and that period.

It’s nice to know that written in our DNA is the fortitude to survive, even if it means suffocating all of our natural resources and bloating the world’s population to around 6 billion people. Go hominids!

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