Out of Africa


The Mt. Toba catastrophe reset the competitive arena for most of the fauna. That had major effects, not just in the near-extinction of the modern humans, but also on the populations of Homo Erectus. Homo Heidelburgensis, Neanderthals, Denisovans and other inhabitants of Asia and Europe. It may have been the cause of the final extinction of Homo Erectus and others of these groups.

Furthermore, the populations of the large predators - saber-toothed cats, cave bears, etc. - were sharply reduced. Some went extinct. The smaller prey animals were also reduced, but in the new low-predator environment they rebounded quickly. Plants also quickly rebounded, taking advantage of the soil improvement by the volcanic ash.

The competitive situation greatly improved. Food was abundant and the competition was low. Now, Haplogroup CT as the new top predator was unchallenged in its new invasion* of southern Asia.

* The word 'invasion' drastically overstates the case. It was a small group or probably several small groups spread out over a considerable period of time. In an attempt to figure out how many individuals there might have been, the variation in mito-DNA was studied. The result suggests that there were only about 600 females who survived to be sucessful breeders, so the combined total size of the groups would be about 2,000: 600 men, 600 wives, 500 other women, and say 300 children, many of whom would not live long enough to make an impact. A paleolithic paradise was still a brutal place.

70,000 y.a. __The recent, successful main migration Out of Africa began via the southern route.

50,000 y.a. __The wet, warm climate of the Mousterian Pluvial was a favorable environment.

Migration
Out of Africa
The much lower sea levels, as much as 200 feet lower, during this time allowed the small groups to cross the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to Arabia. Then they travelled through the warm and verdant "Green Arabia" or they followed the coastline eastward to the Persian Gulf and the Indus river. These modern humans colonized much of southern Asia.
The early migrants were mainly Haplogroup CT. Several new groups quickly emerged and diverged from CT to become extremely successful in the bountiful enviroment:

  • C - most went to southern India, Indo-china, Indonesia, and Australia, but some went to Europe.
  • D - went to southern China and on to Japan
  • E - returned to Africa where E-P147 became the predominant haplogroup
  • F - the ancestor of L-161, took up residence in the the Ur-Shatt and Indus river valleys.
  • Migration of the Haplogroups