This gives modern man a 130,000 year tenure. Bands of them, armed with new proficiencies, like those men and women who had flourished on the banks of the Semliki, began an exodus from their African homeland. Slowly they trickled northwards, and into the Levant, the region bordering the eastern Mediterranean. Then, by about 80,000 years ago, small groups began spreading across the globe, via the Middle East, planting the seeds of human modernity in Asia and later on in Europe and Australia. In each region, these seeds slowly germinated until, about 40,000 years ago, something caused them to blossom with an explosive population growth.
Stringer thinks it was.
Quite clearly Zafarraya was used by Neanderthals for a long time after we thought they had been rendered extinct,' adds Dr Hublin. But what has caused the real surprise is the nature of the stone implements left behind in the cave. They are Middle Palaeolithic. Elsewhere in Europe these basic scrapers and knives had been replaced by Aurignacian tools - named after the site of their discovery, Aurignac in southern France. This kit was far more sophisticated in nature and first appeared about 40,000 years ago.