At one stage there were only 2000 human beings on the planet?

I guess logic suggests that it has to be the case but I was still rather surprised to read this:

This suggests the early human population was tiny (so the opportunities for new matrilines to evolve in the first place were limited) and reinforces the idea that Homo sapiens may have come close to extinction (eliminating some matrilines that did previously exist). Indeed, there may, at one point, have been as few as 2,000 people left to carry humanity forward.

The BBC has an article covering a lot of the same things but lacks that rather entertaining statistic. Still though, that’s an idea that will probably keep me entertained for a while to come…

Update: Here’s another BBC article

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