Lock Of Hair Unlocks History

A lock of hair has helped scientists to piece together the genome of Australian Aborigines and rewrite the history of human dispersal around the world.

DNA from the hair demonstrates that indigenous Aboriginal Australians were the first to separate from other modern humans, around 70,000 years ago.

This challenges current theories of a single phase of dispersal from Africa.

This graphic shows the new paths taken.  Referred to as "Jurassic Park science" by some, this gives us insight into how humans traveled and developed cultures along the way.  A tiny percentage of difference helps map their progress over thousands of years, and may eventually help explain why some cultures and peoples became extinct.  What was once unexplained or written off as poor luck may be explained now with medical and historic data.  It's also interesting to note how they split off.  Australia has always been a continent with a lot of history, this may also have a positive influence on more research in that area.