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Rock paintings from the Western Cape. The Middle Stone Age covers the period from 300,000 to 50,000 years ago. The hunter-gatherers of Southern Africa, named San by their pastoral neighbours, the Khoikhoi, and Bushmen by Europeans, are in all likelihood direct descendants of the first anatomically modern humans to migrate to Southern Africa more than 130,000 years ago.
The first modern humans are believed to have inhabited South Africa more than 100,000 years ago. [1] [2] South Africa's first known inhabitants have been collectively referred to as the Khoisan, the Khoekhoe and the San.
The Cradle of Humankind [1] [2] [3] is a paleoanthropological site that is located about 50 km (31 mi) northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa, in the Gauteng province. . Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999, [4] the site is home to the largest known concentration of human ancestral remains anywhere in the w
Ancestors of the Khoisan may have expanded from East Africa or Central Africa into Southern Africa before 150,000 BP, possibly as early as before 260,000 BP. [2] [3] Due to their early expansion and separation, ancestors of the Khoisan may have been the largest population among anatomically modern humans, from their early separation before 150,000 BP until the Out of Africa migration in 70,000 BP.
[5] [18] [19] [20] Homo naledi, discovered in South Africa in 2013 and tentatively dated to about 300,000 years ago, may represent fossil evidence of such an archaic human species. [21] Neanderthals spread across the Near East and Europe, while Denisovans appear to have spread across Central and East Asia and to Southeast Asia and Oceania.
The oldest human skeletal remains are the 40ky old Lake Mungo remains in New South Wales, but human ornaments discovered at Devil's Lair in Western Australia have been dated to 48 kya and artifacts at Madjedbebe in Northern Territory are dated to at least 50 kya, and to 62.1 ± 2.9 ka in one 2017 study. [26] [27] [28] [29]
Homo naledi is an extinct species of archaic human discovered in 2013 in the Rising Star Cave system, Gauteng province, South Africa (See Cradle of Humankind), dating to the Middle Pleistocene 335,000–236,000 years ago. The initial discovery comprises 1,550 specimens of bone, representing 737 different skeletal elements, and at least 15 ...
The genetic history of Southern Africa encompasses the genetic history of the people of Southern Africa. The Sahara served as a trans-regional passageway and place of dwelling for people in Africa during various humid phases [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] and periods throughout the history of Africa .