The Economist reports that researchers have been able to determine where and when human populations diverged as far back as 200,000 years ago. It’s a fascinating article.
They also speculate that a severe drought in Africa very nearly wiped out humanity. Total population may have dipped as low as 2,000 people. Today’s population of 6.6 billion is descended entirely from that small pool.
The most amazing part of it is that the researchers were able to piece most of that together just by looking at mitochondrial DNA. To learn so much from so little is absolutely amazing. This is one of those times where I stand in awe of human ingenuity.
Inertia Wins! 