CNN —Ancient humanity was almost wiped out about 900,000 years ago when the global population dwindled to around 1,280 reproducing individuals, according to a new study.
What’s more, the population of early human ancestors stayed this small for about 117,000 years.
The population bottleneck coincided with dramatic changes in climate during what’s known as the mid-Pleistocene transition, the research team suggested.
While ancient DNA has revolutionized our understanding about past populations, the oldest DNA from a human species dates to around 400,000 years ago.
“The proposed bottleneck needs to be tested against human and archaeological evidence,” they added.
Persons:
”, Yi, Nick Ashton, Chris Stringer, Ashton, Stringer, “
Organizations:
CNN, East China Normal University, British Museum
Locations:
China, Italy, United States, Israel, London, Africa, what’s, Kenya, Ethiopia, Spain, United Kingdom