It’s in northern Botswana, south of the Zambezi River.

The  journal Nature publishes the study using mitochondrial DNA – that which is passed down the female line and is not sidetracked by male DNA..

They analyse samples from 1200 people from myriad populations across Africa

The area where modern man began about 200 000 years ago is now salt pans.

It was once an enormous lake supporting a lush wetland.

The finding supports the theory that our modern ancestors migrated out of Africa rather than evolving in separate pockets around the world simultaneously.

The anthropologists’ study is controversial.

Some scientists say mankind cannot be traced back using DNA alone. 

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It casts into doubt previous thinking about the origins of man.

The discovery of a remarkably complete skull of Australopithecus anamensis sheds new light on the evolutionary history of early human ancestors.

The journal Nature says it was found on a site that has been worked for 15 years. 

It is about 50 kilometers from the site where the skelton of Lucy of the Australopithecus afarensis was found in 1974.

These date back to time man was emerging from the trees to walk on two legs.

The species had a brain about the quarter of the size of a human but was starting to lose its ape-like features.

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