Submitted by Stance: It was a very close call. If a devastating drought that gripped Africa had lasted just a little longer, or been a little worse, we would not be here today. There would be no humans, no cities, no art and no science. There would be no wars and no human-induced climate change. The world would belong to the animals. An international genetics project has found that modern humans almost became extinct 70,000 years ago. The Genographic Project, led by American and Israeli researchers, made the discovery after undertaking the most extensive mitochondrial DNA survey ever undertaken in Africa. In 1987 a study of mitochondrial DNA, passed down the generations via the maternalline, revealed that every person alive today is descended from one woman who lived in Africa 200,000 years ago.
The latest study shows that after the birth of humanity in eastern Africa, people quickly split into separate communities. About 150,000 years ago humans, possibly pursuing animal herds, moved to settle throughout Africa. The number of people soared, peaking somewhere between 10,000 and 100,000. But before the first person could venture out of Africa, the population suddenly crashed to just 2000. "It could have been even fewer," said Spencer Wells, the Genographic Project director. "We were, in effect, hanging on by our fingertips. "That"s fewer people than there are Sumatra orang-utans today, and they are classified as extremely endangered and will probably go extinct in 20 years." Thecrisis was probably caused by climate change. About 130,000 years ago the world started cooling and drying as it neared another ice age. "There were massive droughts in Africa ... mega-droughts," Dr Wells said. With much of the continent barren and hostile, the tiny human settlements became isolated from each other. As humanity hovered on the edge of extinction "a shift in culture began. People began making the better hunting tools they needed to survive the drought. Art makes its appearance.
View: Full Article | Source: Sydney Morning Herald
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Posted on Sunday, April 27 - 2008
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Reference : Evolution, Armageddon
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Human race will be extinct within 100 years
Nasa warns over upcoming solar storm
How space dust could wipe out life on Earth
Mass extinction event spared Europe
Comet impact narrowly avoided in 1883
Harold Camping claims new apocalypse date
Japan tsunami could be 1000-year event
Could a nuke save us from an asteroid ?
How the World will END!
Secret History of Doomsday Weapons