一项新的研究确定了今天所有活着的人类祖先的故乡

A group of researchers say they have pinpointed the ancestral homeland of all humans alive today: modern-day Botswana.

一组研究人员说，他们已经确定了今天所有活着的人类祖先的故乡：今天的博茨瓦纳。

In a new study published in the journal Nature, scientists analysed mitochondrial DNA – genetic information that gets passed down the female line – from more than 1,200 people across myriad populations in Africa.

在《自然》杂志上发表的一项新研究中，科学家们分析了来自非洲无数人口中超过1200人的线粒体DNA——传递给女性的遗传信息。

By examining which genes were preserved in people's DNA over time, the anthropologists determined that anatomically modern humans emerged in what was once a lush wetland in Botswana, south of the Zambezi River.

通过研究人类DNA中保存了哪些基因，人类学家们断定，从解剖学角度讲，现代人类出现在赞比西河以南博茨瓦纳的一片曾经繁茂的湿地上。

Though scientists agree that modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) arose in Africa around 200,000 years ago, they have remained uncertain about exactly where on the continent that evolutionary milestone occurred.

尽管科学家们一致认为，现代人类(智人)大约20万年前就出现在非洲，但他们仍然不确定进化的里程碑，究竟发生在非洲大陆的什么地方。

The new study offers an answer to that question and also undermines the idea that our ancestors emerged in East Africa, as limited fossil evidence suggests.

这项新的研究为这个问题提供了答案，同时也削弱了我们的祖先出现在东非的观点，正如有限的化石证据所显示的那样。

The anthropologist Vanessa Hayes, the senior author of the new paper, said in a press conference that the findings suggested "everyone walking around today" could trace their mitochondrial DNA back to this "human homeland."

这篇新论文的资深作者、人类学家凡妮莎·海耶斯在记者招待会上说，这一发现表明，“今天到处走动的每个人”都可以将线粒体DNA追溯到这个“人类家园”。