CNN
Humans originated in Africa, but when exactly our earliest ancestors left the continent and how they spread around the world has been intensely debated by archaeologists.
Two fossils unearthed in a cave in northern Laos suggest that Homo sapiens, our own species, was living in the region some 86,000 years ago, according to a new study. The finding challenges the prevailing idea that humans’ path across the globe was linear and took place in a single wave about 50,000 to 60,000 years ago.
“Chances are that this early migration was unsuccessful, but this does not distract from the fact that H. sapiens had arrived in this region by this time which is a remarkable achievement,” said study author Kira Westaway, an associate professor at Macquarie University in Australia, via email.
DNA analysis of present-day human populations has supported the hypothesis that early modern humans left Africa around 50,000 to 60,000 years ago, and archaeologists have thought our early ancestors likely followed coastlines and islands through southeast Asia toward Australia.
However, a growing number of older human remains discovered in China and the Levant show that this chapter in the human story is more complicated than first thought.
The migration 50,000 to 60,000 years ago “that contributes to our current gene pool may not have been the first,” Westaway said. “There may well have been earlier migrations that were not successful and therefore did not contribute their genetics to our modern populations.”
The two Laos fossils — a fragment of a leg bone and part of the front of a skull — were found in Tam Pa Ling cave. The archaeological site was discovered in 2009 when another partial skull was unearthed.
In addition to the latest finds, two jawbones, a rib and a phalanx have also been discovered at the site, and the physical features of the…
