Humans May Have Almost Gone Extinct 70,000 Years Ago

It’s amazing how much we take for granted but in the big scheme of things, humanity wasn’t always a sure thing to survive.

Human beings may have had a brush with extinction 70,000 years ago, an extensive genetic study suggests. The human population at that time was reduced to small isolated groups in Africa, apparently because of drought, according to an analysis released Thursday

The report notes that a separate study by researchers at Stanford University estimated the number of early humans may have shrunk as low as 2,000 before numbers began to expand again in the early Stone Age.

… Paleontologist Meave Leakey, a Genographic adviser, commented: "Who would have thought that as recently as 70,000 years ago, extremes of climate had reduced our population to such small numbers that we were on the very edge of extinction."

Climate change 70,000 years ago? That’s before SUVs, coal plants and private jets for rich liberals, right?

posted by DrewM. at 10:34 PM

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