First Indians came from Africa
*The exciting journey has been chronicled by a team of genetic investigators
- All modern humans descended form one man in Africa 60,000 years ago
- The new findings suggest people had entered India from the western side
The first men to set foot on India were a group of Africans who took an arduous journey from the dark continent along the coasts of central Asia and Middle East to arrive in India around 50,000 years ago. Those men and women are the forefathers of Dravidians – considered as the oldest Indians.
Through a massive global scientific exercise supported by National Geographic, the exciting journey has been chronicled by a team of genetic investigators, who concluded that all modern humans descended form one man in Africa about 60,000 years ago.
By painstakingly stitching together bits and pieces of evidences, written on human genes all over the world, scientists found that in the grip of an Ice Age, which made food and natural resources scare men in Africa began their journey 60,000 years ago.
Braving burning deserts and chilling icelands, they walked to Australia, the Middle East, Central Asia, India and China before reaching Europe around 35,000 years ago. From Europe, early men and women went to Siberia and ultimately reached north America 13,000 years ago thereby occupying every nook and corner of the globe, geneticist Dr Spencer Wells, who coordinated the entire project involving 50-odd laboratories across the world, said.
The awesome tour opens up a new window to witness how the first people came to India, which still puzzle scientists, because of lack of evidence beyond 30,000 years. The new findings suggest people had entered India from the western side and travelled along the west coast because of better food availability to reach southern part of the subcontinent.
Clinching evidences have been found in a Sri Lankan cave. “Batadomba Lena cave contains earliest skeletal material from anatomically modern humans, dating back 30,000 years as well as vintage artefacts. Since early Indians moved along the West Coast, their artefacts may lie in the existing sea. An under-water excavation may be worthwhile to look for those artefacts off Mumbai coast and Palk Strait,” he said.
When the investigators looked into the genetic pattern of a small village west of Madurai, they found the same genetic abnormalities in their genes as in the genes of the Africans and native Australians, indicating that everybody came from a common father.
But the study poses new questions — for instance when did boats originate and whether the journey depicted by the scientists is accurate? Also it does not answer what happened beyond 60,000 years ago in Africa as scientists had earlier shown that Eve – the first women – originated in Africa between 80,000 to 120,000 years ago.
In the quest of the paternal link of modern man, the team probed genetic pattern of Y-chromosome, which is inherited from father and mostly conserved over generations. The route was chronicled after probing about 2,000 blood samples from exotic tribes.