Where was the evolutionary birthplace of modern humans? The East African Great Rift Valley has long been the favored contender – until today. Our new research has used DNA to trace humanity’s earliest footsteps to a prehistoric wetland called Makgadikgadi-Okavango, south of the Great Zambezi River. Our analysis, published in Nature today, shows that the earliest population of modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) arose 200,000 years ago in an area that covers parts of modern-day Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Today it is a dry and dusty land with scattered salt pans, and it is hard to believe that modern humans…

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