What Made Ancient Humans Travel the World?

#AncientHumans #HumanEvolution #HumanMigration There is no habitable place on Earth where you'd be surprised to find people. Mountains. Deserts. Islands a thousand miles from anything. We treat that as normal. It isn't. Every other ape alive is confined to tropical forest, in a few parts of Africa and Southeast Asia. Somewhere between fifty and sixty five thousand years ago, a group of people stood on a beach in island Southeast Asia and looked out at open water. We don't know how many they were, or what they said to each other. What we know is that they got into something they had built, pushed off, and headed out across open ocean. In today's video we look at: What Made Ancient Humans Travel the World? #AncientHumans #HumanEvolution #Archaeology #HumanMigration #OutOfAfrica #Prehistory #EarlyHumans #Anthropology #IceAge #Paleoanthropology #HomoErectus #PeoplingOfTheAmericas Scientific Sources: The scientific information presented in this video is primarily based on the following sources. 1. Lordkipanidze, D., Ponce de León, M. S., Margvelashvili, A., Rak, Y., Rightmire, G. P., Vekua, A., & Zollikofer, C. P. E. (2013). A complete skull from Dmanisi, Georgia, and the evolutionary biology of early Homo. Science, 342(6156), 326–331. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1238484 Documents Homo outside Africa around 1.8 million years ago with a braincase of 546 cubic centimetres. Supports the Dmanisi section. 2. Clarkson, C., Jacobs, Z., Marwick, B., Fullagar, R., Wallis, L., Smith, M., … Pardoe, C. (2017). Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago. Nature, 547(7663), 306–310. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22968 Reports occupation beginning around 65,000 years ago at Madjedbebe, with ground ochres and ground-edge hatchet heads. The source of the date quoted in the video. 3. Allen, J., & O'Connell, J. F. (2020). A different paradigm for the initial colonisation of Sahul. Archaeology in Oceania, 55(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1002/arco.5207 Argues that genomic evidence points to a colonising wave of hundreds or perhaps low thousands of people, and that minimal-assumption models of the simplest watercraft and smallest viable groups should be abandoned. Supports both the video's statement that the Madjedbebe date is disputed and its estimate of group size. Open access via the Western Australian Museum library. 4. Bradshaw, C. J. A., Ulm, S., Williams, A. N., Bird, M. I., Roberts, R. G., Jacobs, Z., … Saltré, F. (2019). Minimum founding populations for the first peopling of Sahul. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 3(7), 1057–1063. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-09... Finds a founding population of 1,300 to 1,550 people was required, arriving at once or through repeated voyages of at least 130 people over 700 to 900 years, indicating large-scale and probably planned settlement. The basis for the video's claim that the crossing was chosen rather than accidental. 5. Larrasoaña, J. C., Roberts, A. P., & Rohling, E. J. (2013). Dynamics of green Sahara periods and their role in hominin evolution. PLOS ONE, 8(10), e76514. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.... Identifies over 230 humid Saharan phases driven by astronomically forced monsoon shifts, each connecting tropical Africa to Eurasian mid-latitudes before fragmenting again. Supports the Sahara section. Open access. 6. Boyd, R., Richerson, P. J., & Henrich, J. (2011). The cultural niche: Why social learning is essential for human adaptation. PNAS, 108(Suppl. 2), 10918–10925. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1100290108 Argues that humans occupy a wider range than any other terrestrial species not because individuals are clever enough to work out how to survive anywhere, but because none of us is. The scientific basis for the video's central argument. Open access and very readable. 7. Miller, J. M., & Wang, Y. V. (2022). Ostrich eggshell beads reveal 50,000-year-old social network in Africa. Nature, 601(7892), 234–239. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04... Nearly identical beads in eastern and southern Africa between 50,000 and 33,000 years ago, across a distance of 3,000 km, indicate the oldest social network yet identified. Supports the bead evidence. 8. Holliday, V. T., Windingstad, J. D., Bright, J., Phillips, B. G., Butler, J. B., Breslawski, R., & Bowman, J. E. (2025). Paleolake geochronology supports Last Glacial Maximum age for human tracks at White Sands, New Mexico. Science Advances, 11(25), eadv4951. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adv4951 A third independent dating material, ancient lake mud, places the footprints between 20,700 and 22,400 years old, matching the earlier seed and pollen dates. Supports the White Sands statement. Disclaimer: The content on this channel is intended for educational and informational purposes only. While every effort is made to ensure scientific accuracy, our videos simplify complex topics for a general audience and should not be considered academic publications.