Thanks to archaeological finds over one hundred years ago, we have known for a long time that humankind originated in Africa.

In fact, archaeological dig sites in the continent have proven that our ancestors lived in Africa around 300,000 years ago, living solely on the continent for a considerable period before beginning their migration.

While some of our ancestors remained in Africa, others travelled through Europe and Eurasia – on a journey with much lesser-known details.

However, thanks to a team from New York University, we are now closer than ever to fully understanding the route that humans took between 120,000 and 60,000 years ago.

In their recent paper, which was published in the journal PLOS One, the team detail the results of data gathered from supercomputer simulations.

Through the computer modelling, the team considered the ancient terrain and climate, to truly understand the factors affecting early humans, and the paths they would have taken as a result.

And as researcher Emily Coco describes in an NYU statement, some of their findings were quite remarkable:

“Our findings show that, despite obstacles like mountains and large rivers, Neanderthals could have crossed northern Eurasia surprisingly quickly. These findings provide important insights into the paths of ancient migrations that cannot currently be studied from the archaeological record and reveal how computer simulations can help uncover new clues about ancient migrations that shaped human history.”

With this data in mind, the researchers were able to construct the first maps of the paths that Neanderthals took on their 2,000 year long journey from Africa.

In fact, the researchers found two possible time periods for migration, the first before and the second after a gradual climatic warming. Regardless, both paths pass through the Ural Mountains and the south of Siberia, across several well-known archaeological sites where evidence of human life, matching the time periods that the researchers predict, have been located.

With all this in mind, the team have come to an important conclusion: that Neanderthals’ migration was both caused and aided by changing climatic conditions, as NYU’s Radu Iovita continued:

“Neanderthals could have migrated thousands of kilometers from the Caucasus Mountains to Siberia in just 2,000 years by following river corridors. Others have speculated on the possibility of this kind of fast, long-distance migration based on genetic data, but this has been difficult to substantiate due to limited archaeological evidence in the region. Based on detailed computer simulations, it appears this migration was a near-inevitable outcome of landscape conditions during past warm climatic periods.”

Though 2,000 years sounds like a long time to travel 2,000 miles along these so-called river highways by modern standards, in an archaeological sense it was actually very fast.

The new map, which details the route, shows the power of computer modelling in our comprehension of our history.

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