DNA research challenges major dates in Human Evolution

A team led by Johannes Krause of Tuingen University has done research on genomes using samples from some of the oldest human fossils in Europe. The research has shown that hunters from before the ice age had DNA related to humans after the ice age, which shows that there was a continuation in the population during the last major glaciation event in Europe.

The measurements of the ‘mutation rate’, which is the rate at which children show DNA changes not seen in their parents, shows that all humans today have as a common ancestor a single woman who lived 160,000 years ago. The researchers have also estimated that our common African ancestor goes back to between 62,000 and 95,000 years ago.

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