Out of Africa: 840,000 years?

[Conservationist]

Relatives of modern humans inhabited Britain at least 840,000 years ago, more than 100,000 years earlier than archaeologists previously believed, researchers reported Tuesday.

The find surprised scientists because most believed that the hominids, bred on the sweltering plains of Africa, could not readily survive in the colder climate of Ice Age Britain. Even though Britain was in the midst of a warming period at the time, winter temperatures were still five to six degrees Fahrenheit colder than now, which would have made survival a challenge for species not adapted to it.

...

Researchers also found an abundance of fossilized bones and coprolites (fossilized dung), indicating that the region was rich in mammoths, hyenas and saber-toothed cats, among other species. The tools were probably used to process the meat and hides from animals killed by predators and abandoned by the hyenas.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/09/science/la-sci-humans-europe-20100710

Looks like there's more to history than our simplistic model provides.

[Muaddib]

And when you add it up with what we know of the Tibetan Hans who underwent evolutionary changes in only 2000 years, it really brakes down the "we are all the same" dogma.
20 genes changed in 2000 years
At least 8400 changed since leaving africa?

[Dylar]

Relatives of modern humans inhabited Britain at least 840,000 years ago, more than 100,000 years earlier than archaeologists previously believed, researchers reported Tuesday.

The find surprised scientists because most believed that the hominids, bred on the sweltering plains of Africa, could not readily survive in the colder climate of Ice Age Britain. Even though Britain was in the midst of a warming period at the time, winter temperatures were still five to six degrees Fahrenheit colder than now, which would have made survival a challenge for species not adapted to it.

...

Researchers also found an abundance of fossilized bones and coprolites (fossilized dung), indicating that the region was rich in mammoths, hyenas and saber-toothed cats, among other species. The tools were probably used to process the meat and hides from animals killed by predators and abandoned by the hyenas.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/09/science/la-sci-humans-europe-20100710

Looks like there's more to history than our simplistic model provides.

Or a testament to the basic survivability of hominids...

[beyond_godlike]

The humans that traveled to Europe bred with the Neanderthals. The Neanderthals were better suited to cold weather, and perhaps this is how our European ancestors survived.

[Sammaellofi]

Looks like there's more to history than our simplistic model provides.

That's how the game is played.  We find one small piece of history and then build all conception around it, guessing and speculating to make tiny fragments seem like the meaning of all existance, then we all have to tear our understanding apart the moment another tiny fragment is found. 
 
There is a certain point when looking backwords when you have to say "Ok, we don't know anything about this, so let's not guess." 

[HEIL WINTER]

I like charts:

http://www.bio.miami.edu/dana/pix/humanorigins.jpg