一項新的研究聲稱,現(xiàn)代人類起源于博茨瓦納。這項研究發(fā)表在《自然》雜志上。研究人員表示,他們利用DNA發(fā)現(xiàn)了現(xiàn)代人的起源。研究人員認為,我們都起源于博茨瓦納北部贊比西河以南的一個地區(qū)。20萬年前人類就在那里。他們在非洲大陸生活了至少7萬年。然后他們開始遷移到現(xiàn)在的歐洲和亞洲。澳大利亞悉尼大學的研究員凡妮莎·海斯教授說:“我們早就知道,現(xiàn)代人類起源于大約20萬年前的非洲。”
The researchers pinpointed an area called Okavango as being the place we come from. There used to be a huge lake there but it is now salt flats. The people had access to water, hunting and farmland. Scientists analyzed DNA samples from 200 people who live near the area today. They are from the Khoisan people. The Khoisan now live in modern-day South Africa and Namibia. They had a lot of DNA called L0, which is the oldest form of DNA known to be inside humans. Professor Hayes explained why L0 is important. She said: "Every time a new migration occurs, that migration event is recorded in our [L0 and] DNA as a time-stamp.... Everyone walking around today...comes from this region."
研究人員確定了一個叫奧卡萬戈的地方是我們來的地方。那里以前有一個大湖,但現(xiàn)在是鹽灘了。人們有水喝,有打獵,有農(nóng)田??茖W家們分析了今天居住在該地區(qū)附近的200人的DNA樣本。他們來自科伊桑人??埔辽H爽F(xiàn)在生活在今天的南非和納米比亞。他們有很多被稱為L0的DNA,這是已知的人類體內(nèi)最古老的DNA形式。海斯教授解釋了為什么L0很重要。她說:“每一次新的遷移發(fā)生時,這個遷移事件都記錄在我們的[L0和]DNA中,作為一個時間戳……今天在這里走動的每個人都來自這個地區(qū)。”