There has been a puzzle: an early Homo sapiens migration out of Africa but no further migration for tens of thousands of years. Now someone thinks he has they answer:


Quote:

The Persian plateau served as hub for Homo sapiens after the main out of Africa dispersalThe Persian plateau served as hub for Homo sapiens after the main out of Africa dispersal Abstract A combination of evidence, based on genetic, fossil and archaeological findings, indicates that Homo sapiens spread out of Africa between ~70-60 thousand years ago (kya). However, it appears that once outside of Africa, human populations did not expand across all of Eurasia until ~45 kya. The geographic whereabouts of these early settlers in the timeframe between ~70-60 to 45 kya has been difficult to reconcile. Here we combine genetic evidence and palaeoecological models to infer the geographic location that acted as the Hub for our species during the early phases of colonisation of Eurasia. Leveraging on available genomic evidence we show that populations from the Persian Plateau carry an ancestry component that closely matches the population that settled the Hub outside Africa. With the paleoclimatic data available to date, we built ecological models showing that the Persian Plateau was suitable for human occupation and that it could sustain a larger population compared to other West Asian regions, strengthening this claim.

So HSapiens moved out of Africa about 60-70,000 years ago but didn’t spread out over Eurasia until about 45,000 years ago.


Quote:

. . .the colonisation of Eurasia by Homo sapiens was not a simple process, as fossil and archaeological findings support a model of multiple migrations Out of Africa from the late Middle Pleistocene and across the Late Pleistocene. Traces of these early dispersals are also evidenced in the genome of our Neanderthal relatives, which illustrate interbreeding events as humans moved into Eurasia7,8,9,10. Early dispersals of our species were likely accompanied by population contractions and extinctions, though succeeded by a subsequent, large-scale wave at ~70–60 kya, from which all modern-day non-Africans descend

(Some dates for the Pleistocene:

Quote:

Scientists have identified four stages, or ages, within the Pleistocene epoch: the Gelasian (2.6 million to 1.8 million years ago) and Calabrian (1.8 million to 781,000 years ago), representing the lower or early Pleistocene; the Chibanian (781,000 to 126,000 years ago), representing the middle Pleistocene; and the late Pleistocene (126,000 to 11,700 years ago)

—https://www.livescience.com/40311-pleistocene-epoch.html ) 


Quote:

Given the current impossibility of directly inferring the homeland of the Hub population from fossil remains, here we combine available genetic evidence (including both ancient and present-day genomes) and palaeoecological models to infer the geographic region that acted as a Hub for the ancestors of all present-day non-Africans during the initial colonisation of Eurasia. With our work, we show that populations from the Persian Plateau carry an ancestry component that closely matches the population that settled the Hub outside Africa, therefore pointing to the Persian Plateau as suitable for human occupation throughout 60–40 kya, indirectly shedding light on the early interactions and admixture of our species with Neanderthals33 and the relationships between the main Eurasian and the elusive Basal Eurasian human population30 as well as informing on where future archaeological investigations should be focused.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-46161-7

If this is found to be correct it should shed a lot of light on the migration out of Africa and into Eurasia and Oceania and start answering the question of why the Neanderthals died out and on pre Homo Sapiens migrations out of Africa.