The Neanderthals Rediscovered Quotes

“To put these events in perspective, it is helpful to imagine the entire course of human evolution, from the appearance of the first Homo habilis in Africa to the present, as taking place over the course of a single day. For convenience, let us start the clock with midnight representing 2.4 million years ago, which is within the range of when the genus Homo is thought to have emerged. In this time-compressed day, with each hour representing 100,000 years, humans left Africa at dawn, around 5 to 6 am.”
― Dimitra Papagianni, The Neanderthals Rediscovered: How Modern Science is Rewriting Their Story

“As archaeologists try to trace the spread of Homo sapiens around the world, perhaps the most important line of evidence to emerge in recent years comes from DNA. Though there seems to be a great deal of variation among human populations outside of Africa, the DNA tells a different story, which reveals that most current human variation can be found within Africa. In contrast, the rest of the global population is descended from a founder group that could have been as small as just a few hundred individuals.”
― Dimitra Papagianni, The Neanderthals Rediscovered: How Modern Science is Rewriting Their Story

“At around 10.45 pm an early form of Homo sapiens arrived in the Middle East. By 11.20 pm Neanderthals had become the predominant type of human in western Asia and were steadily pushing eastwards towards Siberia, which they reached around 11.30 pm. By 11.40 pm, just twenty minutes before the present, all traces of the Neanderthals were gone. When the Last Glacial period ended at 11.54 pm, modern humans were on the verge of establishing long-term settlements and inventing agriculture.”
― Dimitra Papagianni, The Neanderthals Rediscovered: How Modern Science is Rewriting Their Story

“They first arrived in Europe at noon, already at the halfway point since the appearance of the human line. In what was probably a subsequent out-of-Africa expansion, Homo heidelbergensis spread from Africa to Europe at dusk, just before 6 pm. By 9 pm the Neanderthals had evolved in Europe and were manufacturing Levallois tools, while their counterparts in Africa were making similar technological advances.”
― Dimitra Papagianni, The Neanderthals Rediscovered: How Modern Science is Rewriting Their Story