Ancient DNA reveals what almost wiped out humanity 900.000 years ago.
Genetic variation among humans is quite narrow, as compared to that in other primates. This suggests that a catastrophic event or a prolongued period of strain has killed most humans less than a million years ago. For information: that is before modern humans and their neanderthal cousins split off from a comman ancester species. This also implies that we hardly find any human remains dating 900.000 to about 750.000 years ago.
Several humanoids must have completely perished if they had not disappeared before. Australeopithecus and Homo habilis date from before the catastrophe. Homo erectus had left Africa and had been colonizing Eurasia.
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