Population collapse almost wiped out human ancestors, say scientists

Source: The Guardian

Population collapse almost wiped out human ancestors, say scientists

Genomics analysis indicates that at least 800,000 years ago breeding individuals sank to as few as 1,300

Hannah Devlin Science correspondent
@hannahdev
Thu 31 Aug 2023 19.00 BST
Last modified on Thu 31 Aug 2023 21.38 BST

Early human ancestors came close to eradication in a severe evolutionary bottleneck between 800,000 and 900,000 years ago, according to scientists.

A genomics analysis of more than 3,000 living people suggested that our ancestors’ total population plummeted to about 1,280 breeding individuals for about 117,000 years. Scientists believe that an extreme climate event could have led to the bottleneck that came close to wiping out our ancestral line.

“The numbers that emerge from our study correspond to those of species that are currently at risk of extinction,” said Prof Giorgio Manzi, an anthropologist at Sapienza University of Rome and a senior author of the research.

However, Manzi and his colleagues believe that the existential pressures of the bottleneck could have triggered the emergence of a new species, Homo heidelbergensis, which some believe is the shared ancestor of modern humans and our cousins, the Neanderthals and Denisovans. Homo sapiens are thought to have emerged about 300,000 years ago.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/aug/31/population-collapse-almost-wiped-out-human-ancestors-say-scientists

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