Man's Evolution

New Discovery Tells The True Story Of Man's Evolution

The conventional theory about the evolution of mankind is that the modern humans marched out of Africa some 50,000 years ago and then spread to all parts of the globe, replacing all other hominid types that had come before. This traditional idea now stands the risk of being supplanted, thanks to a stunning new discovery. The finding of the tip of a girl's 40,000 year old finger, which was announced in the first week of January 2012, has helped scientists create a complex new pictures of the origin of humans. Analyses done through new gene sequencing technology have shown that modern humans encountered and bred with at  least two groups of ancient humans in relatively recent times. Theses two ancient human groups are the Neanderthals, who lived in Europe and Asia, dying out nearly 30,000 years ago; and a mysterious group known as the Denisovans, who lived in Asia and most likely vanished around the same time as the Neanderthals.

The finding of the girl's pinky finger bone and an oddly shaped molar form a young adult have helped scientists in unraveling some complex genetic puzzles. A revolutionary increase in the speed and a decline in the cost of gene sequencing technology have enabled the scientists at the Max Plank Institute, Germany  to map the genomes of both the Neanderthals and the Denisovans. Comparing genomes, scientists have concluded that today's humans outside Africa carry an average of 2.5 percent Neanderthal DNA, and that people from parts of Oceania carry about 5 percent Denisovan DNA. These findings have put the focus on the phenomenon of interbreeding between different humans species. This has thus firmly brought into question the assumption that modern humans originated exclusively in Africa, and then spread out therefrom.