FILE PHOTO: Vanessa Hayes speaks with Headman ǀkun ǀkunta, from an extended Ju/'hoansi family, who provided genome data for a study identifying the ancestral homeland in southern Africa of all living members of our species, in Namibia, February 6, 2019. Chris Bennett/Evolving Picture/Handout via REUTERS
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A large ancient wetlands region spanning northern Botswana - once teeming with life but now dominated by desert and salt flats - may represent the ancestral homeland of all of the 7.7 billion people on Earth today, researchers said on Monday.
Their study, guided by maternal DNA data from more than 1,200 people indigenous to southern Africa, proposed a central role for this region in the early history of humankind starting 200,000 years ago, nurturing our species for 70,000 years before climate changes paved the way for the first migrations.
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