The University of Southampton in Britain reported that an international team of scientists discovered that the first humans left Africa for Eurasia via the Sinai Peninsula and Jordan more than 80,000 years ago.
Study: A green corridor in the Levant helped Homo sapiens leave Africa 80,000 years ago
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Researchers have proven the existence of what is known as a "wet soil corridor" during that period, which enabled groups of hunter-gatherers to cross through the Levant towards West Asia.
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This green land corridor, now desert, formed a natural route that facilitated the northward migration of Homo sapiens. The study's findings were published in the journal Science Advances.
Scientists indicate that modern humans appeared in Africa between 300,000 and 200,000 years ago, and then began spreading out of the continent in several stages. Stone tools have also been found in the Jordan Rift Valley near a watercourse that was tens of thousands of years ago, and their age has been determined using luminescence dating techniques, which measure the time since the sediments were last exposed to light.
These tools were found to be about 84,000 years old.
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Dr. Mahmoud Abbas, the lead researcher of the study from Shantou University in China, said that the Levant region during humid climatic periods served as a natural corridor that enabled Homo sapiens to leave Africa, adding that the results also confirm the role of the Jordan Rift Valley in this dispersal.
Professor Paul Carling, a geomorphologist at the University of Southampton, explained that previous beliefs focused on a southern route across the Red Sea, but new evidence points to an alternative northern route. He noted that small wetlands during those periods played a crucial role as stopover points during the migration, providing humans with opportunities to hunt animals in predominantly arid environments.
