Figure 5

Peopling of Eurasia. Map of Eurasia and northeastern Africa depicting the peopling of Eurasia as inferred from the extant mtDNA phylogeny. The bold black arrow indicates the possible "coastal" route of colonization of Eurasia by anatomically modern humans (ca. 60,000 – 80,000 ybp.). This "Southern Coastal Route" is suggested by the phylogeography of mtDNA haplogroup M, the virtual absence of which in the Near East and Southwest Asia undermines the likelihood of the initial colonization of Eurasia taking a route north around the Red Sea. Therefore, the initial split between West and East Eurasian mtDNAs is postulated between the Indus Valley and Southwest Asia. Spheres depict expansion zones where, after the initial (coastal) peopling of the continent, local branches of the mtDNA tree (haplogroups given in the spheres) arose (ca. 40,000 – 60,000 ybp), and from where they where further carried into the interior of the continent (thinner black arrows). Admixture between the expansion zones has been surprisingly limited ever since. We note that while there is no obvious need to introduce the "northern route" – from northeast Africa over Sinai to the Near East – to explain the initial colonization of Eurasia, the spread of some mtDNA and Y-chromosomal haplogroups implies that the "northern" passage might have been used in a later period [33, 34].