Around 800,000 years ago, humanity may have come frighteningly close to disappearing altogether. Genetic evidence suggests that our entire species was reduced to a tiny population of roughly 1,280 individuals after a severe climatic and environmental bottleneck. For tens of thousands of years, survival hung by a thread as these few ancestors endured extreme conditions and scarce resources. Nearly 98.7% of the human population was lost during this period, leaving a lasting genetic imprint still visible in humans today. This conclusion comes from a 2023 genetic analysis published in Science, which examined modern human DNA to reconstruct ancient population sizes and evolutionary bottlenecks.
