The ancestors of modern humans, homo sapiens sapiens, first lived in the Zambezi basin in northern Botswana, according to a study published in the scientific journal Nature.
The study, in which researchers from South Africa's University of Pretoria participated, said the ancestors lived in the wetland region for about 70,000 years, before migrating north and south about 130,000 years ago.
“Data suggests that the Greater Zambezi River Basin region, particularly the southwest Kalahari, played a significant role in shaping anatomical modern human emergence,” Vanessa Hayes, an extraordinary professor at the University of Pretoria, said in a statement. “It has been clear for some time that anatomically modern humans appeared in Africa roughly 200,000 years ago, What has long been debated is the exact location of this emergence and subsequent dispersal of our earliest ancestors.”
South Africa and eastern Africa have previously laid claim to being the cradle of humankind.
To contact the reporter on this story: Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: John McCorry at jmccorry@bloomberg.net, Karl Maier
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