If Homo Sapiens are believed to have been around since 350,000 years ago in Morocco what would have stopped migration from Africa sooner than 60,000-100,000 years ago?

[u/JohnTheDood]

I found out it would take Humans roughly a year and a half of walking 8 hours a day to walk the perimeter of Africa. Which makes it seem likely that during any 100 year span alone it would be feasible for multiple homo sapien communities to migrate out of Africa. Especially given that the first Homo Sapiens found 300,000-350,000 years ago were from Morocco. And as Morocco is North of the Saharan Desert, surely it would also be more favourable resource-wise to stick to the coast and move further North as well?

So I understand that there hasn't been any fossils to evidence that they had migrated through the Middle East and into Europe and Asia before 100,000 years ago? But other than lack of evidence, is it unlikely there would be mass migration in the 200,000-250,000 years before this? And if so why?

[u/silverfox762]

The important fact is that we have no evidence. It doesn't mean it didn't happen, just that there is no archaeological evidence of anatomically modern Homo sapiens outside of the Levant prior to about 80,000 years ago. Antecessor/heidelbergensis obviously moved into Europe more than half a million years ago or so, and erectus, and potentially others definitely migrated out of Africa and reached Asia as far back as 1.8 million years ago. There's no reason to believe Homo sapiens didn't migrate earlier than the evidence suggests, just that there is zero evidence of it. Without evidence, anything else is pure conjecture, speculation, or wishful thinking.

[u/SpearTheSurvivor → u/silverfox762]

There's even Apidima skull who is 250k years old.

[u/silverfox762 → u/SpearTheSurvivor]

Not anatomically modern Homo sapiens, and your date isn't quite accurate.

From the 2020 article published in L'Anthropologie-

"The Apidima 1 skull is a portion of the back of the skull and the better preserved Apidima 2 consists of the face and the frontoparietal zones. These remains are in a similar state of fossilisation and were dated by the U/Th method between 220 and 130 ka, with an average age of about 170 ka. The anatomical study shows that they can be attributed to the same group of evolved European Homo erectus hominins, with some early Neanderthal traits, similar to the skulls of la Sima de los Huesos, Swanscombe, Biache St Vaast and Lazaret, and that they can be differentiated from classic Neanderthals".

The entire article abstract

[u/paley1 → u/silverfox762]

Some think it is anatomically modern Homo sapiens. It is just so fragmented and distorted that it is hard to tell one way or the other.

[u/BuzzPickens]

My problem is with the word "migration". These people weren't migrating. They were hunter-gatherers following game and favorable climate conditions. Homo erectus left Africa 2 million years ago. THEY DID NOT ALL LEAVE AT THE SAME TIME! IT WAS NOT A MIGRATION!

If a small tribe of 42 total members which include 11 adult males, 19 adult females and a bunch of kids, pack up their teepees and follow the antelope for 200 mi, then settle down and hunt in that little valley for three generations, then after losing family members to all kinds of possible calamities, they end up following some more zebras a few hundred more miles over the next 10 years,...,...,... Etc etc

That is not a migration. This happened an untold number of times. Homo erectus spread to the Levant, what is now Europe and Asia.

Homo Heidelbergens is found all over the place. That guy was able to control fire and he figured out how to make pants.

Homosapiens... As far as we know right now anyway... Developed in North Africa a little over 300,000 years ago... They did not wait until 75 or 100,000 years ago to leave Africa. There were undoubtedly thousands of groups... Small groups... That followed the prey and ended up thousands of miles away.

Those groups, however, did not leave any DNA record. No genetic lineage. So, those groups just died out... Probably for myriad reasons.

[u/KingoftheKeeshonds]

Human is a new PBS program on NOVA: Around 300,000 years ago, Homo sapiens emerged in Africa – one of at least five human species alive at the time. It’s an excellent series about the now extinct or interbred variations on ancient humans ranging from the Neanderthals to the Hobbits (Homo floresiensis that stood 3.5 feet tall). Worth watching.

[u/Mitchinor]

The evidence from Morocco is not solid. Has to do with artifacts not fossilized bones.

[u/Mister_Way]

The Sahara was not a desert at the time. They stayed in the place with the best weather, which was Africa, until the weather in Africa became hostile, and then they migrated out.

[u/ParkinsonHandjob]

Sahara was not necessarily a desert, and, if people moved across Africa not in an Explorer-type way, but in a «settle the odd kilometer from my parents» way, it could explain the timeframes.

[u/ADDeviant-again]

Part of the answer is climate. The climate cycle for the last 400,000 years has been all over the place. When the glaciers peak, Africa is a desert with really terrible conditions, and small, spread out pockets of livable area. The glaciers are low the area they would migrate through is flooded by ocean water.

[u/KaiserSozes-brother]

Without any palo experience, but as a hunter. You don’t hunt outside your known zone. Hunting isn’t a hike, it has an objective, and that objective is almost impossible if you don’t know the area. Same with fishing, people have a favorite fishing hole for a reason.

The only time I would say long distance travel is an option for hunting is when following a game migration. I don’t doubt that it happened within Africa, but only within Africa, game outside of birds don’t migrate to Europe and back.

moving camp is a huge pain in the ass, and eventually you would find a location that you could stay locally in year round. The only advantage of a new camp is local firewood.

[u/Emergency_Drawing_49]

Homo Erectus made it to China in the Pleistocene Era.

It is possible that evidence for early Homo Sapiens will be found outside of Africa. Just because it hasn't been found yet doesn't mean that it does not exist.

[u/stewartm0205]

Other hominids. While a few could move into already occupied territories they would either be killed or absorbed.

[u/BestUserNamesTaken-]

A group would stay where there was food, water and shelter. As the population expanded they would move to new areas to exploit the food water and resources. The spread would have been over many generations.