# evol: apropos of our origin, the KhoeSan trunk of the human tree

<< Where was the evolutionary birthplace of modern humans? The East African Great Rift Valley has long been the favoured contender – until today. (AA) new research has used DNA to trace humanity’s earliest footsteps to a prehistoric wetland called Makgadikgadi-Okavango, south of the Great Zambezi River. >>

<< KhoeSan have the most diverse mitogenomes of anyone on Earth, which suggests their DNA most closely resembles that of our shared common ancestors. If we all sit on branches of the human family tree, then KhoeSan are the tree's trunk. >>

Vanessa Hayes. Humanity’s birthplace: why everyone alive today can call northern Botswana home. University of Sydney. Oct 28, 2019.

https://theconversation.com/humanitys-birthplace-why-everyone-alive-today-can-call-northern-botswana-home-125814

Eva K. F. Chan, Axel Timmermann, et al.  Human origins in a southern African palaeo-wetland and first migrations. Nature (2019) doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1714-1. Oct 28, 2019.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1714-1