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Here’s how genetics helped crack the history of human migration

Research

Over the past 25 years, scientists have supported the view that modern humans left Africa around 50,000 years ago, spreading to different parts of the world by replacing resident human species like the Neanderthals.

However, rapid advances in genetic sequencing have opened up a whole new window into the past, suggesting that human history is much more complicated.

In fact, genetic studies in the last few years have revealed that since our African exodus, humans have moved and mixed a lot more than previously thought – particularly over the last 10,000 years.

Read the full article on The Conversation website, written by George Busby, The Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics.

Oxford is a subscribing member of The Conversation. Find out how you can write for The Conversation.

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