Hypothesis of modern human origins at Makgadikgadi
Hipótesis del origen de los humanos modernos en Makgadikgadi
- Date
- 2019 · confidence medium
- Place
- Makgadikgadi-Okavango wetland, Central District, Botswana
- Credited to
- Vanessa Hayes and colleagues
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
A study of L0 mitochondrial DNA proposed that the ancestral homeland of Homo sapiens was a vast wetland of southern Africa, now the Makgadikgadi salt pans, about 200 ka ago. It would have been followed by migrations to the northeast and southwest.
Many palaeoanthropologists criticise that a single mitochondrial lineage cannot locate the origin of the species, which was a structured population across the continent (Jebel Irhoud, c. 300 ka).
What it led to
- debate on a single or multiregional African origin
- relation between climate and human migrations
- ancient DNA studies in southern Africa