The list is divided into four categories, Middle Paleolithic (before 50,000 years ago),
Upper Paleolithic (50,000 to 12,500 years ago), Holocene (12,500 to 500 years ago) and Modern (Age of Sail and modern exploration).
List entries are identified by region (in the case of genetic evidence spatial resolution is limited) or region, country or island, with the date of the first known or hypothesised modern human presence (or "settlement", although Paleolithic humans were not sedentary).
Human "settlement" does not necessarily have to be continuous; settled areas in some cases become depopulated due to environmental conditions, such as glacial periods or the Toba volcanic eruption.[1] Early Homo sapiens migrated out of Africa from as early as 270,000 years ago, although these early migrations may have died out and permanent Homo sapiens presence outside of Africa may not have been established until about 70–50,000 years ago.
Before Homo sapiens, Homo erectus had already spread throughout Africa and non-Arctic Eurasia by about one million years ago. The oldest known evidence for anatomically modern humans (as of 2017[update]) are fossils found at Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, dated about 360,000 years old.[2]
Anatomically modern human remains of eight individuals dated 300,000 years old, making them the oldest known remains categorized as "modern" (as of 2018[update]).
The Omo remains of modern humans found in 1967 near the Ethiopian Kibish Mountains, dated stratigraphically to 195 ± 5 ka, may be related to Ledi-Geraru.
Fossil maxilla is apparently older than remains found at Skhyul and Qafzeh. Layers dating from between 250,000 and 140,000 years ago in the same cave contained tools of the Levallois type which could put the date of the first migration even earlier if the tools can be associated with the modern human jawbone finds.[6][7]
Remains found in the Klasies River Caves in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa show signs of human hunting dated c. 125 ka. There is some debate as to whether these remains represent anatomically modern humans.
Evidence from population genetics suggests separation before 110 ka,[9] most likely between 130 and 200 ka.[10]
Tools found in the Dhofar Governorate correspond with African objects from the so-called 'Nubian Complex', dating from 75 to 125,000 years ago. According to archaeologist Jeffrey I. Rose, human settlements spread east from Africa across the Arabian Peninsula.
Archaeological excavation carried out in the trenches at Dhaba in the upper Son river valley found stone tools and other evidences of human occupation in this area 80,000 years back.
Mijares and Piper (2010) found bones in a cave near Peñablanca, Cagayan, originally thought to be modern human. However, these were subsequently dated ca. 134 kya, belonging to a different species, Homo luzonensis.
The oldest human skeletal remains are the 40ky old Lake Mungo remains in New South Wales, but human ornaments discovered at Devil's Lair in Western Australia have been dated to 48 kya and artifacts at Madjedbebe in Northern Territory are dated to at least 50 kya, and to 62.1±2.9 ka (95% CI) in one 2017 study.[26]
Genetic research indicates arrival of humans in Japan by 37,000 BP. Archeological remains at the Tategahana Paleolithic Site at Lake Nojiri have been dated as early as 47,000 BP.
In 2009 an ancient skull was recovered from a cave in the Annamite Mountains in northern Laos which is at least 46,000 years old, making it the oldest modern human fossil found to date in Southeast Asia
A hammer made from reindeer horn similar to those used by the Bromme culture was found in 2016. The discovery pushed back the earliest evidence of human presence in Lithuania by 30,000 years, i.e. to before the last glacial period.
A human skull in Sarawak, Borneo (Archaeologists have claimed a much earlier date for stone tools found in the Mansuli valley, near Lahad Datu in Sabah, but precise dating analysis has not yet been published.)
Formerly dated to 15 kya, the date modern human presence in Tibet has been pushed back to at least 38 kya based on genetic evidence. Archaeological evidence from the bank of the Salween River in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau was dated between 32 and 39 kya.
In 1972, fragmentary fossils of anatomically modern humans were found at Chouqu and Gangzilin, in Zuojhen District, Tainan, in fossil beds exposed by erosion of the Cailiao River. Though some of the fragments are believed to be more recent, three cranial fragments and a molar tooth have been dated as between 20,000 and 30,000 years old. The find has been dubbed "Zuozhen Man". No associated artifacts have been found at the site.
Austronesian settlers arrived no later than the 6th century, based on archaeological evidence on Nzwani; settlement beginning as early as the 1st century has been postulated.
Ingólfr Arnarson, the first known Norse settler who came from mainland Norway, built his homestead in Reykjavík this year, though Norse or Hiberno-Scottish monks might have arrived up to two hundred years earlier.
Settled by Polynesians by the 14th century (possibly previously, around the 10th century), later abandoned. Resettled by Europeans in 1810, later abandoned.
Settled 1642 by a dozen deported French mutineers from Madagascar, who were returned to France several years later. In 1665 the French East India Company started a permanent settlement.
While Christopher Columbus was first to sight the Cayman Islands on May 10, 1503, Caymanian folklore holds that the island's first inhabitants were English soldiers involved in Oliver Cromwell's capture of Jamaica around 1658. The first recorded permanent inhabitant was Isaac Bodden, the grandson of one of these first settlers, born on Grand Cayman around 1661.
Although visited earlier by Maldivians, Malays and Arabs, the first known settlement was a spice plantation established by the French, first on Ste. Anne Island, then moved to Mahé. It is the sovereign state with the shortest history of human settlement (followed by Mauritius).
Some evidence of early settlement from the Marianas, but the islands were abandoned except for occasional shipwrecks until a group of Europeans, Polynesians, and Micronesians settled Chichi-jima in 1830.
Although now uninhabited, there have been attempts at settlement. In June 1843, a French garrison was established under the command of Polish-born Captain Adam Mierolawski, but it was soon abandoned. In 1928, a spiny lobster cannery was established, with the last three settlers rescued in 1934.
Following various shipwrecks and visits by sealers and scientists in the 18th and 19th century, a short-lived settlement was made in 1871 by Heurtin, a French resident of Réunion Island. A French scientific base has been maintained since 1949.
Sheep farming was undertaken from 1896 until the lease, along with the sheep and a small herd of cattle, was abandoned in 1931 because of the Great Depression.
Visited by whalers in the 17th century, with some overwinter sojourns in 1633, 1882, and 1907. Weather station at Eggøya established 1921, followed by other weather and military stations. The current station, Olonkinbyen, has been continuously inhabited since 1958.
After occasional sojourns and shipwrecks in the 19th century, three families settled in a sheep-farming colony but were evacuated in 1934. Scientific station at Port-aux-Français has been continuously inhabited since 1950.
Former SAS member Tom McClean lived on the island from 26 May to 4 July 1985 to affirm the UK's claim to the islet. Other short stays have been made, including one by Greenpeace and a 60-day fundraising effort for Help for Heroes
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