The research, whose findings were published in the journal Science, showed that the “serious population crisis” that began about 930,000 years ago and lasted for almost 120,000 years due to climate change has reduced the global population to about 1280 reproductive individuals.
A FIRST IN 117 THOUSAND YEARS
It was the first time that early human ancestors had decreased so much in numbers over a period of 117,000 years, the research found.
During the population crisis, severe climate change was observed, with glacial cycles becoming longer and more intense; During this change, it was stated that there was a prolonged drought in Africa.
In the research conducted with the new computer model developed by a group of scientists, 3154 genomes from 50 different communities were compared.
The research method allows data based on genetic samples from present-day humans to reconstruct ancient population dynamics.
“98.7 PERCENT WAS DISTINCT”
Experts argue that at the beginning of the population crisis, about 98.7 percent of man’s first ancestors disappeared, a gap was found in the fossil record after the population collapse, and then the common ancestor of modern humans emerged.
Source: AA