The Real Eve Page #4

to the reasons why our ancestors

made the long walk out of Africa.

On a constant diet of seafood, maybe

more children would have survived.

But the increasing numbers made

the demand for food more desperate.

Camps like this one would have

numbered just a few hundred.

At one time, there were only about

10,000 humans alive in the world.

We were as endangered a species

as the great apes are today.

When the beachcomber's spearfishing

failed to support them...

they no longer had a choice.

If they would survive, they had

to move across the Red Sea.

Freak monsoons were watering the

green inviting hills of the Yemen.

Scientists have always thought our

ancestors migrated from Africa...

many times, group after group.

And it was believed they always went

north via Egypt and modern Israel.

But the DNA trail

tells a different story.

Professor Steven Oppenheimer is one

of the world's foremost authorities...

on current genetic research

into DNA tracking.

By putting together the genetic tree

with prehistoric weather patterns...

he's one of the first to come up

with the extraordinary idea...

that our ancestors came out of

Africa by a single southern route.

This beach is on the west coast

of the Red Sea, the African side.

0ver on the other side, we can see

the mountains of Yemen.

I believe this is where our ancestors

crossed on the first stage...

of their journey

to the rest of the world.

These straits are known locally to

fishermen as the Gates of Grief...

because of the terrible

fierce currents crossing.

But 80,000 years ago, the sea level

was 150 foot further down.

As a result, a number of islands

and reefs appeared...

which allowed

our ancestors to cross...

as it were on stepping-stones

over to the Yemen.

Man had to come out of Africa in the

end, all his primate relatives had...

but the timing and the route were

determined by climate swings.

Driven by hunger, shrinking habitat,

and maybe the first stirrings...

of the restless human curiosity

about the land ahead...

our precious group of modern

humans prepared to leave.

There were two routes out of Africa:

the north of the Red Sea...

across the Suez,

and into the Middle East.

And here in the south, across

the Gates of Grief, into Yemen...

and on through the

south Arabian coast to India.

Both routes are possible.

But, to get through to the north...

our ancestors would have

to cross the Sahara desert.

And at the time,

it was even drier than it is today.

Here in the south, all they

had to do was to cross...

this short stretch of water, only

10 miles across to the Yemen.

So, this was a region they

could go to with confidence.

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