Climatic windows for human migration out of Africa in the past 300,000 years

This paper investigates the timing and routes of human expansions out of Africa using high-resolution paleoclimate reconstructions. By combining these reconstructions with estimates of hunter-gatherer rainfall requirements, the authors identify periods when migrations out of Africa would have been climatically feasible. The findings suggest that previous suggested routes and timings are compatible with periods of sufficiently wet corridors into Eurasia, highlighting the importance of paleoclimate in human dispersals. The study also discusses the potential reasons for the demise of earlier colonization attempts.

Robert M. Beyer, Mario Krapp, Anders Eriksson, Andrea Manica