3 Major events in human evolution during the past 500,000 years, which include the appearance of anatomically modern (or " near modern " ) humans in Africa (300,000–150,000 years ago) and their limited dispersal out of Africa (ca. 120,000–90,000 years ago), followed by the spread of the lineages of living people throughout the continent and the beginning of the global dispersal (75,000– 60,000 years ago).