The analysis, published August 31 in the journal Science, is based on a new computer model developed by Chinese, Italian and American scientists. Genetic information from 3154 modern human genomes was processed using the statistical method. CNN.
According to the study, about 98.7 percent of human ancestors became extinct.
According to the researchers, the population crash is linked to a gap in the fossil record, which likely gave rise to a new species of hominin, which was the common ancestor of modern humans, Homo sapiens, and Neanderthals.
This discovery opens a new chapter in the study of human evolution because it raises many questions, such as where these individuals lived, how they overcame catastrophic climate changes, and how natural selection accelerated the evolution of the human brain.
– said the study’s lead author, Yi Hsuan Pan, a scientist at East China Normal University. According to the research team, the decline in population was due to a significant change in climate.
According to scientists, the rapid population growth occurred 813,000 years ago due to the use of fire and a more favorable climate for humans.
The computer model the researchers used uses the vast amount of information found in the modern human genome to come to conclusions about the size of the human population at specific points in history.
The researchers used the genetic sequences of 50 people in the study.
