Our species, Homo sapiens, dispersed from Africa into Eurasia multiple times in the Middle and Late Pleistocene.
According to new research led by Shantou University scientists, the now arid zone of the Eastern Mediterranean was once green savannahs and grasslands that provided an ideal passage for these migrations. Homo sapiens evolved in Africa between 300,000 and 200,000 years ago and dispersed out of the continent during multiple episodes, including the last interglacial period (Marine Isotope Stage or MIS 5, between 129,000 and 71,000 years ago). The geographical routes of dispersal into Eurasia have been long debated, e.g., the northern route from the Sinai Peninsula to the southern Levant then to Arabia, and the southern route via the Bab El Mandeb strait into the margins of southern Arabia. The southern route, i.e., the Red Sea crossing, is regarded as possible in glacial periods with low sea level. On the other hand, the dispersal via the northern corridor during 130,000 to 90,000 years ago has been considered the most viable route in MIS 5, given a growing number of archaeological and paleontological discoveries. These discoveries include hominin fossils and artifacts from the well-known caves of the Mediterranean Levant and the fossil finds, human footprints, and Middle Paleolithic artifacts from the Nefud Desert. "Our research in the Jordan Rift Valley and Plateau zone clearly shows a humid corridor existed, supporting research in Arabia and the Levant that terrestrial routes were favored by hunter-gatherers wandering across…