Out of Africa

Published November 14, 2019

The Out of Africa theory is the dominant model of the geographic origin and early migration of anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens)^(a). It arose from discoveries in East Africa less than a century ago. Previously, a more popular idea prevailed which claimed that modern humans arose from different populations of earlier hominids in various regions of the world. This idea of independent regional development still has some advocates^(h)(c).

>It was interesting to read a recent report regarding the immediate ancestors of modern humans which revealed that nearly a million years ago a population bottleneck produced the near extinction of our progenitors. “Humans might have almost gone extinct nearly 1 million years ago, with the world population hovering at only about 1,300 for more than 100,000 years, a new study finds” in the Sept. 1, 2023 issue of the journal Science^(o).<

A 2007 report deviated somewhat from the OoA concept, and suggested that the first Europeans had arrived from Asia, rather than directly from Africa!^(f)

While details of the OoA theory are continually being modified in the light of new discoveries, genetic studies have only strengthened support for the theory. The most recent genetic studies suggest that “a vast inland oasis in present-day northern Botswana was once home to the founder population of all modern humans.” ^(b)

New studies suggest that the early development of homo sapiens may have been more complex than previously thought^(e). Chris Stringer, of the Natural History Museum, London, is quoted by The Guardian as saying that “the immediate predecessors of modern humans probably arose in Africa about 500,000 years ago and evolved into separate populations”.

A 2014 article by Anatole A. Klyosov, president of the Academy of DNA Genealogy, Newton, Florida offers a very critical overview of the OoA theory.

“The article shows how recent OOA studies (as well as earlier ones) employ biased interpretations to artificially “prove” the OOA concept. The article shows that the same data can be—and more justifiably—interpreted as incompatible with the OOA concept, and giving support for an “into Africa” concept. It seems that from the times of Neanderthals (seemingly having pale skin and fair hair, based on the identified Neanderthal MCR1 melanocortin receptor), our ancestors, of both African and non-African current populations, lived outside of Africa, apparently in Eurasia or maybe in Europe.” ⁽ⁿ⁾

Conventional wisdom is still uncertain whether humans left Africa in two or more waves and when did they do so. Stephen Oppenheimer, who has written extensively on the subject, maintains that a single group of migrants were involved, around 80,000 years ago. He offers several papers on the Bradshaw Foundation website^(d). Current opinion favours Bab-el-Mandeb at the south of the Red Sea and the Sinai Peninsula at the northern end, as the most likely exit routes.

In the September 2021 issue of Nature, evidence was presented that hominins had migrated out of Africa to what was a much greener Arabia, in a series of movements starting approximately 400,000 years ago and later around 300,000, 200,000, 100,000 and 55,000 years ago, coinciding with successive periods of more benign climate on the peninsula⁽ⁱ⁾. Later in the year, another report endorsed the importance of Arabia, describing it as the “cornerstone in early human migrations out of Africa.” This was the conclusion arrived at following the largest-ever study of Arab genomes^(j).

The complexity of the subject continues to generate studies such as reported in 2023 in the journal Nature^(m). “An international research team led by McGill University and the University of California-Davis suggest that, based on contemporary genomic evidence from across the continent, there were humans living in different regions of Africa, migrating from one region to another and mixing with one another over a period of hundreds of thousands of years. This view runs counter to some of the dominant theories about human origins in Africa”^(l).

As I see it, dating the spread of humans remains unclear to a layman such as myself. Of particular interest is determining more accurately when man first crossed the Bering Strait from Asia into America.

Not directly related to this subject but nevertheless interesting is a recent research report published in the Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology^(g) (2021 DOI: 10.1558/jma.18784), which deals with Mediterranean migration trends over 8,000 years. It found that within the region from about 7,500 BC to AD 500, migration rates ranged from about 6% to 9% of the population within the dataset. These rates seem to have decreased over time and “that despite evidence of cultural connections, there’s little evidence of massive migration across the region.”

A 2021 article in the Smithsonian Magazine reviews recent theories regarding much earlier migrations of hominins, particularly Homo erectus^(k).

^(a) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recent_African_origin_of_modern_humans

^(b) https://cosmosmagazine.com/biology/likely-human-homeland-identified

^(c)It’s Official: Timeline For Human Migration Gets A Rewrite | Discover Magazine (archive.org)

^(d)Bradshaw Foundation – Journey of Humankind (archive.org)

^(e) https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-evolution-human-origins/human-origins-0013103

^(f)http://africascience.blogspot.com/2007/08/first-europeans-came-from-asia-not.html

^(g) Deep dive into bioarchaeological data reveals Mediterranean migration trends over 8,000 years — ScienceDaily

^(h)No single birthplace of mankind, say scientists | Science | The Guardian

⁽ⁱ⁾ Research reveals humans ventured out of Africa repeatedly as early as 400,000 years ago, to visit the rolling grasslands of Arabia (theconversation.com)

^(j)Arabia was ‘cornerstone’ in early human migrations out of Africa, study suggests | Live Science

^(k)What Drove Homo Erectus Out of Africa? | Science| Smithsonian Magazine

^(l) https://www.ancientpages.com/2023/05/18/new-understanding-of-human-evolution-in-africa/

^(m) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06055-y

⁽ⁿ⁾ https://www.academia.edu/6077284/Reconsideration_of_the_Out_of_Africa_Concept_as_Not_Having_Enough_Proof

^(o)Humans faced a ‘close call with extinction’ nearly a million years ago | Live Science *

Tagged Anatole A. Klyosov, Arabia, Bering Strait, Botswana, Bradshaw Foundation, Chris Stringer, Homo Erectus, Homo sapiens, out-of-Africa, Stephen Oppenheimer

Ice Ages

Published May 28, 2010

Ice Ages have been a fact of life on Earth for aeons, according to conventional ice age theory. There is now evidence that during the very early existence of our planet, the entire Earth was completely glaciated, possibly twice!^(w)

However, the exact cause of the onset of any ice age is still a matter of active debate^(ab). Ralph Ellis has now proposed a new theory based on a cyclical alteration of polar albedo by atmospheric dust⁽ⁿ⁾.

In any study of Ice Age Theory, due consideration must be given to the radical views expressed by Allan & Delair in their well-received book, Cataclysm ^[014].

Over the last three million years, a period referred to by geologists as the Pleistocene Epoch, at least thirty Ice Ages have been ‘identified’. The exact extent of the polar ice caps during the last Ice Age is the subject of some debate with new evidence from northern Sweden and Norway, suggesting a less extensive cap than previously believed. However, there is evidence that Mauna Kea in Hawaii, which is now 13,803 feet above sea level,” had a large glacial ice cap of about 70 square kilometres until 14,500 years ago.”^(ag)

Various theories have been proposed to explain the onset and the ending of these Ice Ages ranging from changes in the Earth’s orbit^(g) around the sun to the effects of the Earth’s passage through the spiral arms of the Milky Way.

Over recent decades we have been consistently told that global warming is underway with a constant threat of rising sea levels. Consequently, it was no surprise when, in April 2018, The Guardian had a headline declaring that Glacier loss is accelerating because of global warming^(r). However, an equally up-to-date website^(s) claims that most of the world’s glaciers are actually growing and makes the comparable assertion that sea levels have stopped rising^(t). Over a decade ago the well-known botanist David Bellamy made similar claims, that were refuted in a revealing article by George Monbiot, also in The Guardian^(u).

Emilio Spedicato has proposed⁽^a⁾ that glaciations are started by asteroidal or cometary impacts on land and terminated by impacts with an ocean. The late Sir Fred Hoyle and his equally radical colleague Chandra Wickramasinghe concurred with this view. They believe that an impact of sufficient size would have vaporised and ejected billions of gallons of water into the upper atmosphere creating an immediate ‘greenhouse effect’ that then led to the melting of the glaciers. In a 1999 paper, Hoyle & Wickramasinghe wrote of the positive effect of greenhouse gases in staving off the next ice age^(aa).

Another impact theory has been proposed by Jon Nelo Juganaru, writing as Raven Alb J, in his rather bloated offering Why and How the Ice Age Ended ^[^1051]. In it he suggested that an asteroidal collision with the Earth effected a pole shift and that caused the Great Flood and the last ice age!

Another recent theory suggests that a severe reduction in sunspot activity may herald the imminent return of another ‘little ice age’ such as was experienced in the 17th century and known as the Maunder Minimum. During that period only 50 sunspots were recorded instead of the usual 40-50 thousand^(ah). NASA has denied that there is any such impending cooling and that the possible effect of any reduced solar activity would be more than offset by the warming caused by human activity^(ai).

Spedicato contends^(z) that circa 9,600 BC, an impact in the Atlantic by an Apollo Object led to the demise of Atlantis, an idea similar to the earlier contention of Otto Muck.

In 2003, scientists at Kansas University drew a lot of attention with their claim that gamma-ray bursts can cause an ice age and mass extinctions. However, the suggested frequency of a gamma-ray explosion that might affect the Earth, every few hundred million years runs counter to conventional ice age theory which proposes that the frequency of ice ages runs to hundreds of thousands of years^(ad).

The last Ice Age reached what is known as the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) around 25,000 -15,000 BP, according to Ray & Adams^(q). LGM describes the time when the glaciers reached their maximum extension.

Remarkably, the very existence of an Ice Age was only first conceived just over 150 years ago when Louis Agassiz first published his theory^[⁰⁰²^][⁰⁰³^]. It took another century before it was fully realised that some of the consequences of the melting of the glaciers at the end of each Ice Age, would have been the flooding of continental shelves and the breaching of low-lying land bridges.

An example of such events would have been the submergence of the majority of the Celtic Shelf separating Britain and Ireland from mainland Europe. In the South China Sea, large chunks of what is known as Sundaland were also flooded. At the eastern end of the Mediterranean, the Bosporus was breached flooding the Black Sea, and more controversially some claim that there had been a breach of a landbridge at the Strait of Gibraltar.

Prompted by the fact that the date given by Solon/Plato for the destruction, 9600 BC coincides with the retreating of the glaciers of the last Ice Age, all the above submergences and breaches have been included in the Atlantis debate.

New studies have shown interesting confirmation of the ‘Out of Africa‘ theory, which had recently come under attack. The effects of the last Ice Age on the population of Europe were quite dramatic^(l). In 2013, journalist, Paul Salopek set out on a 21,000-mile walking journey from East Africa, across Asia, and down the west coast of the Americas in an attempt to emulate mankind’s long odyssey as he (mankind not Saklopek) populated the planet^(v).

The most recent genetic studies suggest that “a vast inland oasis in present-day northern Botswana was once home to the founder population of all modern humans.” ^(x)

A first-rate work ^[³⁹⁰^] by Steven Mithen on the aftermath of the last Ice Age was recently published.

Fundamentalist Christians who believe in a literal seven days of creation have great difficulty with modern Ice Age theory⁽^b⁾and some propose that an ice age occurred after the biblical Deluge⁽^f). For some fundamentalists the (only) Ice Age lasted from around 2500 BC until 1500 BC^(o⁾, otherwise, it will not fit into Archbishop Ussher’s 4004 BC date for the creation of the world!

Furthermore, it would be dishonest if I did not record that there have been more credible attempts to debunk the ‘conventional’ Ice Age Theory. The late Peter K. Bros (1939-2007) expressed such views in J. Douglas Kenyon’s Forbidden History^[802.44] and in Atlantis Rising magazine^(ae).

Dr. Horst Friedrich (1931-2015) was strongly opposed to Ice Age Theory and in one of the many papers that he published on the subject, he invoked the earlier work of C.G.S. Sandberg in support of his views^(aj).

Furthermore, Allan & Delair offer similar views in Chapter 12 of Part One of their acclaimed book Cataclysm^[014]as does Richard E.Mooney ^[^0842.87]. An essay by Kurt Johmann entitled “Debunking Ice Age” is also worth a read. The Thunderbolts website has a forum^(h) dealing with whether Ice Ages occurred at all! Those interested in this particular controversy will find some worthwhile comments there. The same site has linked to an article that offers further challenges to conventional Ice Age and global warming theories. This report^(j) concerns the discovery of the remains of a 4,000-year-old forest in the Alps at the edge of a retreating glacier, which added further evidence that warmer climates than at present were experienced since the last Ice Age. A regular Thunderbolts contributor, Rens Van Der Sluijs, also deals with global warming during the last Ice Age as revealed through mythology^(k). However, Thunderbolts ‘Electric Universe’ concept has also received some highly critical reviews^(m).

An interesting side issue is the work of Genevieve von Petzinger^(y) who has collated recurring geometric symbols found in the Ice Age caves and rock carvings, not only across Europe but in Asia and less frequently in Africa and the Americas.

The University of Sheffield has now produced a set of maps showing the shrinkage of the last glacial ice sheet that covered most of the British Isles at the end of the last Ice Age^(d). That particular ice sheet contained enough water to raise the world’s oceans by 2.5 metres when melted. Further maps have been published on Don Hitchcock’s website⁽ⁱ⁾.

The retreating ice sheets also produced drumlins, with as many as 20,000 to be found in Ireland, with many of these and other Ice Age creations featuring in the placenames of my country^(p).

We should not forget that Mother Nature can still spring weather surprises on us, such as the Great European Freeze of 1709 that led to widespread death of humans and livestock, crop failures and food riots⁽^af⁾.

⁽^a⁾ Wayback Machine (archive.org)

^(b) https://creation.com/do-greenland-ice-cores-show-over-one-hundred-thousand-years-of-annual-layers

^(d) See: https://web.archive.org/web/20170714171242/https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/geography/staff/clark_chris/britice

^(f)https://www.accuracyingenesis.com/iceage.html

^(g)https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100406133707.htm

^(h) Questioning the Ice Ages – Thunderbolts Forum (v2.0) (archive.org)

⁽ⁱ⁾https://donsmaps.com/icemaps.html

^(j)https://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/08/08/receding-swiss-glaciers-incoveniently-reveal-4000-year-old-forests-and-make-it-clear-that-glacier-retreat-is-nothing-new/

^(k) Global Warming in the Ice Age – The Thunderbolts Project™ (archive.org) (new link) *

^(l) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/02/04/climate-shifts-dramatically-upended-the-lives-of-prehistoric-humans-according-to-scientists/

^(m) See: Archive 922

⁽ⁿ⁾ https://www.ancient-origins.net/opinion-guest-authors/why-do-ice-ages-occur-new-paradigm-shift-prehistoric-problem-005683?nopaging=1