{"id":135798,"date":"2023-06-15T12:42:13","date_gmt":"2023-06-15T16:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=135798"},"modified":"2023-08-11T14:00:04","modified_gmt":"2023-08-11T18:00:04","slug":"human-migration-timeline-redrawn-by-fresh-fossil-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/human-migration-timeline-redrawn-by-fresh-fossil-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"Human Migration Timeline Redrawn by Fresh Fossil Analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"

New research recasts the narrative on the earliest presence of Homo sapiens in Southeast Asia, pushing back the presence of humans in that part of the world by at least 20,000 years and a human presence in the region for at least 56,000 years.<\/p>\n

The findings are based on analysis of bones excavated from deep inside the Tam P\u00e0 Ling Cave in northern Laos and the subject of a new publication published this week in Nature Communications<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Not only do the results reshape theories on human migration out of Africa, but it opens new insights into how humans settled in the lush, warm climate of Asia, says the study\u2019s lead author, Sarah Freidline, an assistant professor in UCF\u2019s Department of Anthropology<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Human fossils are rare in Southeast Asia. According to DNA analysis, migration out of Africa into Southeast Asia had previously been thought to have occurred sometime between 50 to 60,000 years ago. However, with the fossils studied by Freidline being aged at around 80,000 years old, this migration seems to have occurred much earlier. The cave\u2019s location 186 miles inland is also significant, suggesting migratory ancestors explored well beyond coastlines and islands.<\/p>\n

Freidline specializes in paleoanthropology, with an emphasis on the evolution of the human face. She already had a paper in the works on the excavated tibia and frontal skull bone when the test results brought some surprises.<\/p>\n