The genetics of a young youngster who died over 2,000 long time ago in what is now South Africa is avail alter our understanding of human evolution . The results show that some modern human groups within Africa splitat least 260,000 to 350,000 long time ago , meaning that our own specie has to have evolved at some point before then .

This challenge the established timeline of our metal money , base on fogy evidence , which has for a long metre said thatHomo sapiensevolved at some point around 200,000 days ago in East Africa . It also suggests that if humans did live in southern Africa around 300,000 years ago , they were likely survive alongside other hominins that are also known to have been in the part , such as the famousHomo naledidiscovered a few years ago .

This in vogue genetic research , published inScience , has only been possible by the unbelievable advancements see in recent age in the ability to extract DNA from bones found in warmer and more humid environs . This is now enabling researchers to hit the books the fossils of hominins rule in regions of Africa that until now it was think impossible for genetic material to pull round in .

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The team sequence the genomes from seven individuals , all of which were from Southern Africa , with three dating to between 2,300 and 1,800 years ago , and four who lived around 500 to 300 twelvemonth ago . They found that while the DNA of the young remains show grounds of mixing between different human populations , the genetic science of a young boy who died some 2,000 years ago did not , and showed that his last common ancestor with other African group was   around   300,000 years ago .

The findings of this latest field of study rather wonderfully backs up a recentexplosive discovery from North Africa , in which researchers revealed they had found the fossil of innovative humans dating back at least 300,000 years . This was 100,000 years before it has traditionally been thought humans first evolved in East Africa , not to mention in a altogether dissimilar neighborhood of the continent .

The team involved in that work suggested that it seemed more and more likely that there was no single lieu in which humans first evolved , but that our coinage cropped up in multiple regions then each universe mingled with each other , something that the scientist from this new study concur with .

“ Thus , both palaeo - anthropological and genetic grounds increasingly points to multiregional stock of anatomically innovative humanity in Africa,”explainedCarina Schlebusch . “ I.e. Homo sapiensdid not originate in one place in Africa , but might have evolved from older chassis in several space on the continent with factor flow between group from different position . ”