Our Human Journey
Migration: Past, Present, Future
All written and visual material on this page and in the accompanying PowerPoint program is intended for limited educational use only and not for broad distribution or copying. This page and program follow the Fair Use rules as outlined by the American Library Association.
Suggested Media
Web Resources: Print
- • AFRICANS WITH NEANDERTHAL DNA (MIGRATION TO AND FROM AFRICA IN ANCIENT TIMES): https://www.science.org/content/article/africans-carry-surprising-amount-neanderthal-dna • NON-AFRICAN DNA GIVES CLUES: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/12/science/oldest-human-genomes-lrj-neanderthals.html • HOMO SAPIENS NEEDED NEANDERTHALS TO SURVIVE (Johannes Krause): https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwydgyy8120o DNA FROM DIRT: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/27/science/ancient-human-dna-cave-dirt.html?
- • CALIFORNIA HOMININS: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/26/science/prehistoric-humans-north-america-california-nature-study.html
- • CALIFORNIA HOMININS: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/mastodons-americas-peopling-migrations-archaeology-science
- • OLDEST HOMO SAPIENS: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/07/science/human-fossils-morocco.html
- • OLDEST HOMO SAPIENS:
- http://theconversation.com/modern-humans-evolved-100-000-years-earlier-than-we-thought-and-not-just-in-east-africa-78875
- • AUSTRALIAN MIGRATION: https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/archaeology/a60876432/human-migration-australia/
- • ANCIENT HISTORY ENCYCLOPEDIA: https://www.ancient.eu/article/1070/early-human-migration/
- • HOMO ERECTUS MIGRATION: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/homo-erectus-our-ancient-ancestor.html
- • HOMO ERECTUS WAS DOMINANT NEARLY 2 MILLION YEARS AGO: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/oct/17/skull-homo-erectus-human-evolution
- • NEANDERTHALS: https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/genetics/ancient-dna-and-neanderthals
- • SAPIENS MIGHT HAVE GONE EXTINCT WITHOUT NEANDERTHALS: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwydgyy8120o.amp
- • IMMUNITY GENES FROM INTERBREEDING WITH NEANDERTHALS: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160107140408.htm
- • IMMUNITY: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/thank-neanderthals-your-immune-system-180957761/
- • HOMO SAPIENS LEFT AFRICA MUCH EARLIER THAN ORIGINALLY THOUGHT: https://psmag.com/news/why-and-when-did-early-humans-leave-africa
- • EARLY HOMO SAPIENS MIGRATIONS: https://www.livescience.com/44988-humans-dispersed-earlier-than-thought.html
- • EARLY HOMO SAPIENS MIGRATIONS: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/early-humans-migrated-out-of-africa-several-times-dna-study-suggests-180984824/
- • EARLY HUMAN MIGRATIONS: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_human_migrations
- • EARLY HUMAN MIGRATIONS: https://www.ancient.eu/article/1070/early-human-migration/
- • EARLY HUMAN MIGRATIONS: https://www.the-independent.com/news/science/archaeology/human-species-migration-route-asia-b2646207.html
- • WHITE SANDS, NM: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/oldest-fossil-human-footprints-in-north-america-are-23000-years-old-study-reaffirms-180983018/
- • WHITE SANDS, NM: https://www.nps.gov/whsa/learn/nature/fossilized-footprints.htm
- • WHITE SANDS, NM: https://news.berkeley.edu/2023/10/05/tests-confirm-humans-tramped-around-north-america-more-than-20-000-years-ago/
- • SOLUTREAN HYPOTHESIS: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solutrean_hypothesis
- • NORTH AMERICA: THREE THEORIES: https://www.history.com/news/human-migration-americas-beringia
- • USING BOATS: https://phys.org/news/2012-03-evidence-neanderthals-boats-modern-humans.html#google_vignette
- • USING BOATS: https://www.science.org/content/article/neandertals-stone-age-people-may-have-voyaged-mediterranean
Web Resources: Video
1. The Human Migration program could include a few video clips; here's a cool "silent" clip that I would narrate that shows how Homo sapiens spread across the planet: http://www.sapiens.org/evolution/early-human-migration/
2. The website www.sapiens.org is a great resource.
3. Here's a wonderful little video from Business Insider: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJdT6QcSbQ0
4. AMNH and Human Evolution:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZv8VyIQ7YU
5. Human Migration Overview (12 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmboVmtqNJc
6. Why Europeans and Asians Developed So Differently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGBDShN8F-E
7. Humans in North America (New Mexico Foot Prints): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmboVmtqNJc
8. Hominins in California 130,000 Years Ago?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d3Dhdk30mc
9. White Sands, New Mexico, footprints (PBS News Hour): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFk7o6C2kV8
10. An overview of the settlement of America (including post-2020 discoveries): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltH3hYsvVq0&t=654s
Oldest Homo Sapiens (Stay Tuned!)
• EARLIEST HUMANS OVERVIEW: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_modern_human#
• SCIENCE MAGAZINE: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/06/world-s-oldest-homo-sapiens-fossils-found-morocco
• NY TIMES: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/07/science/human-fossils-morocco.html
• CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/25/africa/inside-africa-morocco-homo-sapiens-fossils/index.html
• SMITHSONIAN OVERVIEW: https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/homo-sapiens
Early Hominins Nearly Went Extinct
• https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02712-4
• https://www.history.com/news/prehistoric-ancestors-population-decline
• https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2012/10/22/163397584/how-human-beings-almost-vanished-from-earth-in-70-000-b-c
• https://io9.gizmodo.com/close-calls-three-times-when-the-human-race-barely-esc-1730998797
• https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwydgyy8120o.amp
Neanderthals
• NEANDERTHAL MIGRATION: https://www.fau.eu/2020/02/26/news/research/neanderthal-migration/#
• NEANDERTHAL ANCIENT DNA: https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/genetics/ancient-dna-and-neanderthals
• AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM: https://australian.museum/learn/science/human-evolution/homo-neanderthalensis/
• BACK AND FORTH MIGRATIONS: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41576-020-0222-3
• SEVERAL MIGRATIONS: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/early-humans-migrated-out-of-africa-several-times-dna-study-suggests-180984824/
Denisovans
OVERVIEW: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denisovan
TIBETAN DENISOVANS: https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/study-moves-date-humans-reaching-tibet-160000-years-ago
HISTORY CHANNEL: https://www.history.com/topics/pre-history/denisovans
EARLY DENISOVANS: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7612221/
LATEST DISCOVERIES: https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/09/science/china-denisovan-fossil-discovery
LATEST DISCOVERIES: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10976-9
Current and Future Migration
• INTERNATIONAL STATISTICS: https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/international-migration-statistics?
• WORLD MIGRATION REPORT: https://www.iom.int/news/world-migration-report-2024-reveals-latest-global-trends-and-challenges-human-mobility
• UNITED NATIONS REPORT ON CURRENT MIGRATION PATTERNS: https://www.un.org/en/desa/latest-migration-trends-revealed
• FUTURE MIGRATION TRENDS ON EARTH: https://www.dni.gov/index.php/gt2040-home/gt2040-deeper-looks/future-of-migration
• SETTLEMENT OF SPACE: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/astronomy-and-space-sciences/articles/10.3389/fspas.2023.1081340/full
• HUMANIZATION OF SPACE: https://scientiamag.org/space-migration-anthropology-and-future-of-humanization-of-space/#google_vignette
• THE NEXT 50 YEARS: https://science.howstuffworks.com/living-in-space.htm