Out of Eden: The Peopling of the World

The question of how the world was first peopled by modern humans is one of the most controversial in science. This book presents new findings that radically change our existing views of humanity's global migration. Its main argument centers around the theory that there was only one exodus, one group of early modern humans from Africa, that went on to people the rest of the world. It suggests that this exodus took place 80,000 years ago via a little known southern route across the mouth of the Red Sea. It also argues that living Malaysian tribes provide an extant link of the route pursued from there, as modern humans beachcombed their way to Australia in the space of 10,000 years. These theories form an account of modern man's remaining journey around the world - to the Mammoth Steppe heartland of Asia, to the now submerged continent of Beringia, and on to the last great unpeopled lands of the Americas. Drawing on genetics, archaeology, palaeontology and climatology, this book represents a new understanding of prehistory.