“Out of Africa” Theory Facts

The “Out of Africa” theory is the generally accepted theory that

modern humans migrated and expanded out of Africa hundreds of
thousands of years ago. These waves of migration steadily occurred
over the world and eventually became the human civilization.
Scientists and researchers have been collaborating around the
world for many years to piece together evidence and information to
establish a global understanding of the “Out of Africa” theory. This
collaboration continues to this day and is continually being
re-examined as the result of continual excavation and research
efforts around the world.
KIDSKONNECT.COM
 “Out of Africa” Theory Facts
BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE “OUT OF AFRICA” THEORY

★ The “Out of Africa” theory (hypothesis) states that all modern humans
stem from a single group of Homo sapiens who came from Africa.
★ The theory suggests that all modern non-African populations descended
from the populations of homo
sapiens that left Africa after
their development in the Horn
of Africa between 300,000 and
200,000 years ago.
★ Unlike other theories, the “Out
of Africa” theory suggests a
single origin of homo sapiens -
the Horn of Africa, as seen in
the picture to the right.
★ The theory suggests a few
waves of dispersals of humans.
★ These waves of migration
steadily occurred over the
world for tens of thousands of
years, and eventually became the human civilization.
★ Scientists studying this theory determined that there was less genetic
variation among the populations the farther the migration was from
Africa. This was due to population drops the more humans spread out.
★ This determination was a result of researching genetic diversity in 53
human populations across the world.
★ This population drop was likely due to difficulties surviving, limited
resources, or lack of adaptability in differing climates.
★ The “Out of Africa” theory also takes into consideration the variations in
the size and shape of skulls found across the world. Of the 6,000+ skulls
examined, scientists concluded that those from populations the farthest
from Africa had the least variety.
★ Scientists and researchers have been collaborating around the world for
many years to piece together evidence and information to establish a
global understanding of the “Out of Africa” theory. This collaboration
continues to this day. KIDSKONNECT.COM
 “Out of Africa” Theory Facts
TWO WAVES OF MIGRATION

★ It is generally accepted that there were two (2) waves of migration from
Africa: The “Northern Route dispersal” and the “Southern Route
dispersal”, both of which occurred at different times in history.

● Due to massive droughts in Africa, homo sapiens

migrated to other continents, crossing the Red Sea
and nearby straits that they could access.
Northern
● Homo sapiens began moving into the Middle East.
Route
● The site at Oman was found to contain stone tools
(~135,000
dating back about 106,000 years.
years ago)
● This wave of migration contributed genetically to
the Altai Neanderthal presence, as evidenced with
the first genetic evidence of such populations.

● Some homo sapiens took the coastal route, which

included crossed the Red Sea and traveling along
the coast through Arabia and Persia to India.
Southern
● Some evidence suggests that other groups made
Route
the trek all the way to modern-day Australia.
(~50-70,000
● Other evidence points to groups traveling as far as
years ago)
East Asia as well as north to Europe. This is
supported by mitochondrial evidence from
hunter-gatherers.

KIDSKONNECT.COM
 “Out of Africa” Theory Facts
DEVELOPMENT AND SCIENCE OF THE “OUT OF AFRICA” THEORY

★ The “Out of Africa” theory suggests that as homo sapiens rapidly

expanded out of Africa during the two major migration periods (as
explained on the previous page), they slowly began to replace archaic
human groups that were indigenous to other parts of the “Old World”,
including Homo erectus in Asia and Neanderthals in Europe.
★ The groups of archaic
humans that the “new”
humans from Africa
replaced eventually died
Out. Instead the
populations that migrated
from Africa were able to
adapt to harsher and
colder climates.
★ In the 1970s, the
discovery of fossils in Africa that resembled human remains that dated
back earlier than anywhere else in the world became evidence that
pointed to the credibility of the “Out of Africa” theory.
★ It wasn’t until around the late 1980s that the theory became
acknowledged and accepted by some paleoanthropologists. The theory
continues to be an influential model to this day.
★ However, there is still some current genetic evidence that is not
compatible with the “Out of Africa” theory which suggests that years of
research may still be needed to come to a consensus.

KIDSKONNECT.COM
“Out of Africa” Wordsearch

Can you find the words in the puzzle above?

AFRICA ARCHAIC EVIDENCE

HOMO ERECTUS HOMO SAPIEN HYPOTHESIS

MIGRATION NEANDERTHAL PREHISTORY

KIDSKONNECT.COM