Humans nearly wiped out 70,000 years ago, study says

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Human beings may have had a brush with extinction 70,000 years ago, an extensive genetic study suggests.

The human population at that time was reduced to small isolated groups in Africa, apparently because of drought, according to an analysis released Thursday.

The report notes that a separate study by researchers at Stanford University estimated the number of early humans may have shrunk as low as 2,000 before numbers began to expand again in the early Stone Age.

"This study illustrates the extraordinary power of genetics to reveal insights into some of the key events in our species' history," Spencer Wells, National Geographic Society explorer in residence, said in a statement.

"Tiny bands of early humans, forced apart by harsh environmental conditions, coming back from the brink to reunite and populate the world. Truly an epic drama, written in our DNA."

Wells is director of the Genographic Project, launched in 2005 to study anthropology using genetics. The report was published in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

Previous studies using mitochondrial DNA -- which is passed down through mothers -- have traced modern humans to a single "mitochondrial Eve," who lived in Africa about 200,000 years ago.

The migrations of humans out of Africa to populate the rest of the world appear to have begun about 60,000 years ago, but little has been known about humans between Eve and that dispersal.

The new study looks at the mitochondrial DNA of the Khoi and San people in South Africa, who appear to have diverged from other people between 90,000 and 150,000 years ago.

The researchers led by Doron Behar of Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, Israel, and Saharon Rosset of IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York, and Tel Aviv University concluded that humans separated into small populations before the Stone Age, when they came back together and began to increase in numbers and spread to other areas.

Eastern Africa experienced a series of severe droughts between 135,000 and 90,000 years ago, and researchers said this climatological shift may have contributed to the population changes, dividing into small, isolated groups that developed independently.

Full story, source: AP/CNN

Well I am glad that didn't happen lol

Isn't there some story/myth where the reptilian-type aliens people talk about tried to wipe humanity out, and it happened around that time frame?

Not saying that's what happened, but it's interesting to think about.

It's an old story...

The scientists have thought several times the human population went through a bottleneck: before this they assumed the massive explosion of Mount Toba was responsible for whiping out most of mankind, some 75,000 years ago.

http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/originals/Webe...neck/textr5.htm

i don't believe it.

No, most cultures stated just the opposite. That reptilian/dragon deities protected them and taught them technologies, agriculture, domestication, etc. Every ancient dragons was not a 'benificient god', but the majority were.

The evil dragon of christianity was largely created because so many pagan cultures acknowledge 'good' dragon gods or assistants to the gods. And even the christians were spreading a lie, for the priests still acknowledged many 'good' dragons in their theology, but the common man never had access to their writings or even the Bible for centuries.

For much, much more of this fantasy, check most the Cryptid threads. This is DC's pet theory, and he doesn't miss any (in)opportunity to express it. He believe "billions of people worship dragons to this day. Christians, Muslims, and Jews."

Yes a event did happen 70,000 years ago yes the human population was brought down to 10,000
No it had nothing to do with dragons and yes im to lazy to post up a link

Forgive me if I'm wrong, for I haven't been around here for long, and I don't tend to read dragon related threads. Am I correct in assuming you believe reptilian aliens and dragons are one and the same?

And yeah, I'm sure there's times in modern culture too where events, nowadays mostly viral outbreaks, would have completely wiped us out back then.