How Did Humans Spread Across the World?人類怎麼走到世界各地？
Pull a time slider and watch people spread from Africa across a 3D globe. Lower the sea to ice-age levels to find the land bridges, click the places where the evidence was found, and see why every date in this story begins with “about.” 拉動時間滑桿，在 3D 地球儀上看人類從非洲走到世界各地。把海面降到冰河時期的高度找出陸橋，點一點發現證據的地方，看看為什麼這個故事裡的每一個年代前面都有「大約」。
Big idea · 一句話看懂
Everyone alive today descends mainly from people who lived in Africa long ago. Over tens of thousands of years, their descendants spread to every continent except Antarctica. We know this from fossils, stone tools, and DNA, and new discoveries keep changing the details. 現在所有的人，主要都是很久以前住在非洲的人的後代。他們的子孫花了幾萬年，走到了南極洲以外的每一洲。我們是靠化石、石器和 DNA 知道的——而且新的發現還在不斷修改這個故事的細節。
3D Model · 3D 模型
The History Globe: Out of Africa, Across the World 歷史地球儀：從非洲出發，走到世界各地
Press Play, or pull the time slider, and watch the routes grow out of Africa. A label appears when the evidence says people may have reached a region, with a range of years, never a single number. Turn on “Ice-age sea level” to see the sea drop and land bridges appear, then look for the places where people still had to cross open water. Click a white dot to see what was found there and how its age is known. The globe shows only land, sea, and routes: no borders and no country names, because none of them existed yet. 按「播放」或拉動時間滑桿，看路線從非洲長出去。證據顯示人可能已經到達某個地區的時候，那裡會出現標示——寫的是一段年代範圍，不是單一個數字。打開「冰河時期的海平面」，看海水退下去、陸橋露出來，再找找哪些地方還是得渡海。點白色的圓點，看那裡發現了什麼、年代是怎麼知道的。地球儀上只畫陸地、海洋和路線：沒有國界，也沒有國名，因為那時候這些都還不存在。
Drag to turn · 拖曳轉動 Scroll or pinch to zoom · 滾輪／雙指縮放 Click a white dot · 點白色圓點
This 3D globe needs WebGL, which this browser does not support. The time slider, the list on the right, and the discovery cards still work, and so do the reading and the games below. 這個瀏覽器不支援 WebGL，無法顯示 3D 地球儀；時間滑桿、右邊的清單和發現地點的小卡照樣能用，下面的課文和小遊戲也都能用。
This layer shows the lowest sea level of the last ice age, about 21,000 years ago. Estimates of how far the sea fell differ from study to study, from about 125 to about 134 meters below today's level. Before and after that low point the sea stood higher, so less land was exposed. The sand-colored land is a sketch made by lowering today's seafloor by 120 meters, a little less than those estimates; real coastlines differed in detail. White shows the northern ice sheets at their greatest extent.這一層畫的是上一次冰河時期海平面最低的時候，大約 2.1 萬年前。海面到底降了多少，不同研究的估計不一樣，從比現在低約 125 公尺到約 134 公尺都有。在這個最低點之前和之後，海面都比較高，露出來的陸地也比較少。沙色的陸地是把今天的海底地形往下「放水」120 公尺畫出來的示意（比上面的估計少一點），真正的海岸線在細節上不一樣。白色是北半球冰層最大的時候的範圍。
Discovery sites · 發現地點
Land today (outline only; no borders are drawn) 今天的陸地（只有外形，不畫國界）
Land that was dry when the ice-age sea was lowest (a sketch) 冰河時期海面最低時露出的陸地（示意）
Northern ice sheets at their greatest extent 北半球冰層最大時的範圍
A rough route: direction and order only, not a real path 大略的路線：只表示方向與先後，不是真的走過的路
Dashed: an earlier move, or a route still debated 虛線：較早的一次移動，或還在爭論的路線
Blue dashes: a stretch that had to be crossed by sea 藍色虛線：一定要渡海的那一段
Purple: later voyages across the Pacific 紫色：後來橫越太平洋的航行
A discovery site you can click 可以點的發現地點
The routes are a teaching sketch. They show the general direction and order in which people spread, drawn to arrive near the middle of each estimated range. Nobody knows the actual paths, and each line stands for thousands of years of small moves by many groups. The dashed line from Taiwan into the Pacific follows one widely held view, based on comparing languages, that the Austronesian-speaking voyagers set out from Taiwan about 5,000 years ago; another view has them spreading more slowly from the islands farther south. The time slider is stretched: each step back is a bigger jump in years. 路線是教學用的示意，只表示人類擴散的大致方向與先後，抵達的時間畫在每一段估計範圍的中間附近。真正走過的路沒有人知道；每一條線代表的是許多群人、幾千年裡一小步一小步的移動。從台灣伸向太平洋的那條虛線，依據的是一種很多人接受的看法（比較語言得出的）：說南島語的航海者大約 5,000 年前從台灣出發；另一種看法則認為他們是從更南邊的島嶼慢慢擴散開來的。時間滑桿是拉伸過的：越往回，每一格跳過的年數越多。
Land outlines: Natural Earth, 1:50m Land, version 5.1.2, public domain (naturalearthdata.com). Ice-age land: today's seafloor from NOAA ETOPO1 (Amante and Eakins 2009, public domain) lowered by 120 m; no correction for later uplift, sinking, or sediment. Ice sheets: simplified from the Last Glacial Maximum reconstruction of Batchelor et al. (2019), Nature Communications 10: 3713, CC BY 4.0; Northern Hemisphere only. Routes and ranges: drawn for this lesson from the sources listed at the bottom of the page. 陸地外形：Natural Earth 1:50m Land 5.1.2 版，公有領域。冰河時期的陸地：把 NOAA ETOPO1 的今日海底地形（Amante 與 Eakins 2009，公有領域）往下放水 120 公尺，沒有修正後來的地殼升降與沉積。冰層：依 Batchelor 等人（2019，《Nature Communications》10: 3713，CC BY 4.0）的末次冰盛期重建簡化，只有北半球。路線與年代範圍：依本頁最下面列出的資料，為這一課繪製。
Reading · 英文閱讀
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Unit 1: How Did Humans Spread Across the World?
Look around your classroom. Every person in it, and every person on Earth, belongs to one species, Homo sapiens. The oldest fossils of our species found so far come from Africa, and they are about 300,000 years old. For most of the time since then, almost all of our ancestors lived in Africa. Today people live on every continent except Antarctica, on high mountains and on small islands far out in the ocean. How did we get everywhere?
Nobody set out to travel the world. A group might move a short way to follow the animals it hunted, to find fresh water, or to make room for a growing family. Their grandchildren moved a little farther. Over thousands of years, these small steps added up to whole continents. Some groups left Africa very early, perhaps more than 100,000 years ago. But researchers think that most people outside Africa today descend mainly from groups that left later, roughly 70,000 to 50,000 years ago.
The world those people walked into was colder than ours. During the last ice age, so much water was frozen into huge ice sheets that the sea stood far lower than it does today: more than 120 meters lower at its lowest point, about 21,000 years ago. Shallow seas became dry land. Asia and North America were joined by a wide plain called Beringia. Australia and New Guinea were one landmass. Taiwan was part of the Asian mainland.
Land bridges did not reach everywhere. Between Southeast Asia and Australia the water stayed deep, so the first people to reach Australia must have crossed open sea, at least 50,000 years ago and perhaps 65,000 years ago. People were living in Europe by about 45,000 years ago. Most researchers think they had reached the Americas by about 15,000 years ago, and footprints found in North America may be 23,000 years old. The last large lands to be settled were islands deep in the Pacific. Voyagers reached New Zealand only about 750 years ago.
How can anyone know what happened before writing existed? Researchers use three kinds of evidence. Fossils show what people's bodies were like. Stone tools show where people lived, even in places where no bones have survived. DNA, taken from living people and sometimes from very old bones, shows how groups are related. None of the three gives an exact date. That is why this lesson keeps saying “about,” and why it gives a range instead of a single number.
Our species was not alone. Other kinds of humans, such as the Neanderthals, were already living in Europe and Asia. They were not our ancestors in a straight line, but close relatives, and DNA shows that the two groups sometimes had children together. The story is still being rewritten. Until 2017, the oldest known fossils of our species were about 195,000 years old; then a find in Morocco pushed that back by 100,000 years. The next discovery may change this lesson too.
The lesson says that nobody “set out to travel the world.” How, then, did people end up on almost every continent?
By many small moves over a very long time. A group moved a short distance to follow animals, find water, or make room for more people; later generations moved a little farther. Over thousands of years, those short moves added up to great distances.
Why did the first people to reach Australia need boats or rafts, even though the sea was much lower in the ice age?
The land bridges did not reach all the way. The water between Southeast Asia and Australia was too deep to become dry land, even when the sea was at its lowest. So people must have crossed open sea to get there.
Why does this lesson give a range of years, such as “65,000 to 50,000 years ago,” instead of one exact date?
Because the evidence cannot give an exact date. Every dating method has a margin of error, different sites and different studies give different results, and new finds keep changing the picture. A range is the honest way to say what is known.
Words & Phrases · 生字及片語
ancestor(n.)祖先Your grandmother's grandmother is one of your ancestors.你阿嬤的阿嬤是你的祖先之一。fossil(n.)化石The fossil was a jawbone with three teeth still in it.那件化石是一塊下顎骨，上面還留著三顆牙齒。stone tool(n.)石器She found a stone tool with a sharp edge for cutting.她找到一件石器，有一道可以用來切東西的鋒利邊緣。DNA(n.)DNA（去氧核糖核酸）DNA carries the instructions that parents pass on to their children.DNA 帶著父母傳給孩子的遺傳指令。migration(n.)遷徙The migration of people out of Africa took thousands of years.人類走出非洲的遷徙花了幾千年。ice age(n.)冰河時期During the last ice age, thick ice covered much of North America.上一次冰河時期，厚厚的冰蓋住了北美洲的大片土地。land bridge(n.)陸橋People and animals walked across the land bridge between the two continents.人和動物走過連接兩塊大陸的陸橋。evidence(n.)證據The footprints are evidence that people were there.那些腳印是有人到過那裡的證據。
Quick Check · 小測驗
1. Where do the oldest known fossils of our species, Homo sapiens, come from?
2. Why was the sea so much lower during the last ice age?
3. Which of these did people have to reach by crossing open sea, even when the sea was at its lowest?
4. Which kind of evidence shows that the ancestors of living people sometimes had children with Neanderthals?
5. Why does this lesson say “about 45,000 years ago” and not give an exact year?
How to Read This Series · 這個系列怎麼讀
Three things to know before Lesson 2 讀第二課之前，先知道三件事
Every lesson in World History uses the same three tools. This first lesson is the place to learn them. 世界歷史的每一課都會用到這三樣工具。第一課先把它們學起來。
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BCE and CE西元前（BCE）和西元（CE）
This series counts years with BCE (Before the Common Era) and CE (Common Era). They are the same numbers as BC and AD: 500 BCE is 500 BC, and 2000 CE is AD 2000. BCE years count backward, so 3000 BCE is earlier than 500 BCE. There is no year zero: the year after 1 BCE is 1 CE. For things that happened tens of thousands of years ago, the lessons simply say “about 50,000 years ago.” 這個系列用 BCE（西元前）和 CE（西元）來算年代。它們和 BC、AD 是同一套數字：500 BCE 就是 500 BC，2000 CE 就是 AD 2000。西元前的年份是倒著數的，所以西元前 3000 年比西元前 500 年更早。沒有「0 年」：西元前 1 年的下一年就是西元 1 年。至於幾萬年前的事，課文直接說「大約 5 萬年前」。
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The parallel timeline平行時間軸
Each lesson has a timeline with seven lanes: Africa, West Asia, Europe, South Asia, East Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. Read across a lane to follow one region through time. Read down to see what was happening in other regions at the same moment. The seven lanes are only a convenience. Central and Southeast Asia are placed on the nearest lane, every lane holds many different peoples, and the regions were never sealed off from one another. 每一課都有一條分成七條線的時間軸：非洲、西亞、歐洲、南亞、東亞、大洋洲、美洲。橫著讀，是跟著一個區域走過時間；直著讀，是看同一個時刻別的區域在做什麼。分成七條線只是為了方便：中亞和東南亞的事放在最近的那一條；每一條線裡面都有很多不同的人群；各個區域之間也從來沒有隔絕過。
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Why there are different accounts為什麼會有「不同的說法」
The past is gone, and only traces are left: bones, tools, buildings, and, for later times, writing. The traces are incomplete, and careful people can read them in different ways. Sometimes a new find settles a question, and sometimes it opens one. So every lesson has a card called “Different Accounts.” It sets the views side by side with their sources and does not pick a winner. Being unsure is not a weakness in history. Pretending to be sure is. 過去已經過去了，留下來的只有痕跡：骨頭、工具、建築，以及比較晚的時代才有的文字。這些痕跡並不完整，認真研究的人也可能讀出不一樣的意思。有時候一個新發現解決了一個問題，有時候反而打開了一個新問題。所以每一課都有一張「不同的說法」卡，把各種看法連同出處並列，不替誰下結論。在歷史裡，「不確定」不是缺點；假裝確定才是。
Try It on the Globe · 在地球儀上試試
Four things to watch 四件值得看的事
Then explore on your own. Click the white dots, and compare the same place with the ice-age sea level on and off. 接著自己探索。點一點白色的圓點，再比較同一個地方在「冰河時期的海平面」打開和關掉時有什麼不同。
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Africa first先在非洲
300,000 to about 100,000 years ago · 30 萬年前到大約 10 萬年前
For about two thirds of our species' time on Earth, the map hardly changes: people live in Africa. Watch the dashed line of an early group reach West Asia, then notice how long it is before the main routes begin. 我們這個物種在地球上的時間裡，大約有三分之二，地圖幾乎沒有變化：人住在非洲。看一條虛線（較早離開的一群人）走到西亞，再注意主要的路線要等多久才出現。
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The sea that had to be crossed一定要渡的海
65,000 to 50,000 years ago · 6.5 萬到 5 萬年前
With the ice-age sea level on, mainland Asia stretches out to Java and Borneo, and Australia joins New Guinea. Between them the sea remains. The blue dashes mark where people needed boats or rafts. 打開冰河時期的海平面，亞洲大陸一路延伸到爪哇和婆羅洲，澳洲和新幾內亞連在一起。但兩者之間還是海。藍色的虛線就是需要船或筏的地方。
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A bridge, and a wall of ice一座橋，和一道冰牆
About 23,000 to 14,000 years ago · 大約 2.3 萬到 1.4 萬年前
Beringia joins Asia to North America, but ice sheets block the way south. Two dashed routes show the two ideas researchers discuss: down the Pacific coast, or through a gap between the ice sheets that opened later. 白令陸橋把亞洲和北美洲連了起來，但往南的路被冰層擋住。兩條虛線是研究者討論的兩種想法：沿著太平洋海岸往南，或是穿過後來才打開的、兩片冰層之間的通道。
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The last places最後才到的地方
About 3,000 to 700 years ago · 大約 3,000 到 700 年前
Almost at the end of the slider, purple lines cross thousands of kilometers of open Pacific. There were no land bridges here at any time. People reached these islands by sailing across the open ocean. 滑桿快到底的時候，紫色的線跨過幾千公里的太平洋。這裡從來沒有陸橋。人是航行過大洋，才到得了這些島的。
Try It · 動手試試
Who Got There First? 誰先到？
Put these six places in order, from the one where people of our species lived earliest to the one they reached last. Use the arrows, or drag. There is no timer. The game checks your order against ranges of years, so where two ranges overlap, either order counts as right. 把這六個地方排好順序：從我們這個物種最早住的地方，排到最晚抵達的地方。用箭頭移動，或直接拖曳。不計時。遊戲是用「年代範圍」來判定的，所以兩個範圍重疊的地方，誰排前面都算對。
Earliest · 最早
Most recent · 最晚
Game · 小遊戲
Three Kinds of Evidence 三種證據
Fossils, stone tools, and DNA each answer different questions, and some questions none of them can answer. Read each question and choose the evidence that could answer it best. There is no timer, and you can keep choosing until you get it; the game counts how many you sort correctly on the first try. 化石、石器、DNA 各自能回答不同的問題，也有些問題三種都回答不了。讀每一個問題，選出最能回答它的那一種證據。不計時，可以一直選到對為止；遊戲會記下你第一次就分對的題數。
Right on the first try · 第一次就分對 0 / 0
Which evidence could best answer this?哪一種證據最能回答這個問題？
Parallel Timeline · 平行時間軸
The same story, lane by lane 同一個故事，一條線一條線看
The bars show the estimated range for when people of our species first lived in each region. The gold band marks the time this lesson covers, which is nearly all of it. Try the button “Every year the same width,” and see how thin the last 5,300 years or so, the age of writing, really are. 長條是「智人最早在這個區域生活」的估計範圍。金色的帶子標出這一課講的時間——幾乎是全部。按「每一年一樣寬」看看：最近的五千三百年左右，也就是有文字的時代，其實只有薄薄一條。
Click a bar or a diamond to read its dates. Drag sideways to move through time.點一條長條或一個菱形，讀出它的年代。左右拖曳可以在時間裡移動。
Read across to follow one region; read down to compare regions at the same moment.橫著讀，跟著一個區域走；直著讀，比較同一個時刻的不同區域。
A long bar does not mean a long journey. It means the evidence leaves a wide range of possible dates.長條很長，不代表走了很久，而是代表證據留下的可能年代範圍很寬。
A striped bar marks dates that researchers still debate.有條紋的長條，是研究者還在爭論的年代。
The gray diamond is a signpost to a later lesson, so you can see how far away it is.灰色的菱形是後面一課的路標，讓你看看它離這裡有多遠。
How Do We Know? · 我們怎麼知道？
Bones, stones, and genes 骨頭、石頭和基因
Every lesson in this series has this card. For a time with no writing at all, the evidence is of three kinds, and each has limits. 這個系列每一課都有這張卡。在完全沒有文字的時代，證據有三種，每一種都有它的限制。
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Fossils化石
Bones and teeth that have lasted in the ground show what a person's body was like, and they let researchers tell our species from other kinds of humans. Footprints pressed into mud are fossils too. 留在地底下的骨頭和牙齒，讓我們看到一個人的身體是什麼樣子，也讓研究者分辨智人和其他種類的人。踩在泥地上的腳印也是化石。
Its limits · 它的限制Fossils are rare. Most bodies leave nothing behind, so the oldest fossil found in a place is not the first person who lived there. A fossil also does not carry its own date; the age comes from the layers around it.化石很稀少。大多數的遺體什麼都不會留下，所以一個地方找到的最古老化石，並不是最早住在那裡的人。化石本身也不會標示年代，年代要靠它周圍的地層來定。
Stone lasts far longer than bone, wood, or cloth. Tools, hearths, and pigments show that people were at a place, how they made things, and sometimes how far they carried their materials. 石頭比骨頭、木頭和布都耐久得多。石器、火塘和顏料告訴我們有人到過這個地方、他們怎麼製作東西，有時還看得出他們把材料帶了多遠。
Its limits · 它的限制A tool does not say who made it. Where several kinds of humans lived at the same time, it can be hard to know which of them left a tool behind. Tools can also shift between layers, which is one reason dates are argued over.石器不會說是誰做的。在好幾種人類同時生活的地方，很難知道一件石器是哪一種人留下的。石器也可能在地層之間移動，這是年代會引起爭論的原因之一。
DNA from living people, and since the 1990s from ancient bones as well, shows how groups are related, roughly when they separated, and whether they mixed. It was DNA that showed our ancestors had children with Neanderthals. 現代人的 DNA，加上 1990 年代以來從古老骨頭裡取得的 DNA，可以告訴我們人群之間的親緣關係、大約什麼時候分開，以及有沒有混在一起。我們的祖先和尼安德塔人生過孩子這件事，就是 DNA 告訴我們的。
Its limits · 它的限制DNA breaks down with time, and faster in warm, wet places, so very old DNA survives mostly in cold or dry sites. Dates worked out from DNA are estimates with wide margins.DNA 會隨著時間分解，在又熱又濕的地方分解得更快，所以非常古老的 DNA 大多只在寒冷或乾燥的遺址保存下來。用 DNA 推算出來的年代是估計值，誤差範圍很寬。
This part of the human story is being revised quickly. Here are four questions on which researchers disagree. The views are set side by side; this lesson does not choose between them. 人類故事的這一段，正被快速地修改。下面是研究者看法不一致的四個問題。各種說法並列，這一課不替誰下結論。
When did people first reach the Americas?人類什麼時候最早到達美洲？
One view一種說法
Fossil footprints at White Sands in North America were dated in 2021 to between about 23,000 and 21,000 years ago, when ice still blocked the way from the north. A second study in 2023, using two other methods, reached the same result. 北美洲白沙的腳印化石，2021 年的定年結果是大約 2.3 萬到 2.1 萬年前，那時候北邊的路還被冰擋著。2023 年另一項研究用另外兩種方法，得到同樣的結果。
Some researchers question those dates. The seeds that were dated came from a water plant, and water plants can take in old carbon from the water. The critics say this may have made the ages appear thousands of years too old. 有研究者質疑這個年代。用來定年的種子來自一種水生植物，而水生植物可能從水裡吸收古老的碳。批評者說，這可能讓定出來的年代比實際的老了好幾千年。
Where things stand · 目前的情況The Natural History Museum in London says that exactly when people arrived “is still debated.” The debate reaches the far south too: Monte Verde, a site in South America long dated to about 14,500 years ago, was re-dated by a 2026 study to only about 8,000 to 4,000 years, and its excavators reject that result. Researchers also disagree about the route: along the Pacific coast, or through a gap between the ice sheets that one study dates to about 13,800 years ago.倫敦自然史博物館的說法是，人類到底什麼時候抵達「仍在爭論中」。爭論也延伸到最南邊：南美洲的蒙特維德遺址長久以來被定為大約 1.45 萬年前，2026 年的一項研究把它重新定年為只有大約 8,000 到 4,000 年，而發掘團隊不接受這個結果。走哪一條路也有不同看法：沿著太平洋海岸，或是穿過兩片冰層之間的通道（有研究把通道打開的時間定在大約 1.38 萬年前）。
When did people reach Australia?人類什麼時候到達澳洲？
One view一種說法
Stone tools at Madjedbebe, a rock shelter in northern Australia, were dated in 2017 to about 65,000 years ago. The Australian Museum describes the site as at least 65,000 years old. 澳洲北部的馬杰貝貝岩棚出土的石器，2017 年定年為大約 6.5 萬年前。澳洲博物館對這處遺址的說法是「至少 6.5 萬年」。
Other researchers argue that people arrived no more than about 50,000 years ago. They point out that tools can sink through sandy ground into older layers, and that DNA evidence fits the later date better. 也有研究者主張人類抵達的時間不會早於大約 5 萬年前。他們指出，石器可能在沙質的地層裡往下沉到更老的地層，而 DNA 的證據也比較符合較晚的年代。
Where things stand · 目前的情況Both sides agree that people have lived in Australia for something close to 50,000 years or more, and that getting there took sea crossings. The oldest human remains found there, at Lake Mungo, are about 42,000 to 40,000 years old.兩邊都同意：人類在澳洲生活了將近 5 萬年或更久，而且要到那裡一定得渡海。在當地發現的最古老人類遺骸（蒙哥湖）大約是 4.2 萬到 4 萬年前的。
How early did our species leave Africa?智人最早什麼時候離開非洲？
One view一種說法
A piece of skull from Apidima Cave in Greece was reported in 2019 as an early member of our species more than 210,000 years old. A jaw from Misliya Cave was reported in 2018 as 177,000 to 194,000 years old. 希臘阿皮迪瑪洞穴的一塊頭骨，2019 年被發表為早期的智人，年代超過 21 萬年。米斯利亞洞穴的一塊上顎，2018 年發表的年代是 17.7 萬到 19.4 萬年前。
Critics of the Misliya dating argue that it shows only a minimum age of about 60,000 to 70,000 years. The Apidima skull is incomplete, and its describers themselves note that it mixes modern and older features. 批評米斯利亞定年的研究者認為，那些數據只能證明它至少有大約 6 萬到 7 萬年。阿皮迪瑪的頭骨並不完整，發表它的研究者自己也指出，它同時有現代和比較古老的特徵。
Where things stand · 目前的情況Fossils about 120,000 to 90,000 years old from Skhul and Qafzeh have long been accepted as early members of our species outside Africa. The Natural History Museum notes that such early groups seem to have died out without passing on their genes; most people outside Africa today descend mainly from a later movement.斯虎爾和卡夫澤出土、大約 12 萬到 9 萬年前的化石，長久以來被接受是非洲以外的早期智人。倫敦自然史博物館指出，這些較早離開的人似乎沒有把基因傳下來就消失了；今天非洲以外的人，主要是後來那一次移動的後代。
How were we related to the Neanderthals, and why did they disappear?我們和尼安德塔人是什麼關係？他們為什麼消失了？
What DNA has shownDNA 告訴我們的
Neanderthals were not our direct ancestors. They and our species share an earlier common ancestor, and the two groups later had children together. People with ancestry from outside Africa carry a small share of Neanderthal DNA: about 2 percent by one museum's count, 1 to 4 percent by another's. 尼安德塔人不是我們的直系祖先。他們和智人有一個更早的共同祖先，後來兩群人又生下了共同的孩子。祖先來自非洲以外的人，身上帶著一小部分尼安德塔人的 DNA：一間博物館說大約 2%，另一間說 1% 到 4%。
Sources differ on when the two lines separated: at least 500,000 years ago by the Natural History Museum's account, about 800,000 by the Nobel committee's. And no one yet knows why the Neanderthals died out. 兩條支系什麼時候分開，各家的數字不一樣：倫敦自然史博物館說至少 50 萬年前，諾貝爾獎委員會說大約 80 萬年前。尼安德塔人為什麼會消失，目前也還沒有人知道。
Where things stand · 目前的情況A third group, the Denisovans, is known mostly from DNA and a handful of fossils. Some people in Oceania and Asia today carry Denisovan DNA as well. Before 2010, nobody knew the Denisovans had existed.還有第三群人——丹尼索瓦人，我們主要是從 DNA 和屈指可數的幾件化石認識他們的。今天大洋洲和亞洲的一些人，身上也帶著丹尼索瓦人的 DNA。在 2010 年以前，還沒有人知道丹尼索瓦人存在過。
In later lessons this card will hold harder disagreements: about empires, about beliefs, and about wars that families still remember. The rule stays the same. Views are set side by side, each with its source, and the lesson does not choose.後面的課裡，這張卡會放更難的分歧：關於帝國、關於信仰、關於有些家庭至今還記得的戰爭。規則不變：說法並列，各附出處，課文不替誰選邊。
History English · 歷史英語
Eight sentences for talking about the distant past 談很久以前的事，用得到的八句英文
Every lesson has a History English card. These eight sentences show how to talk about time and evidence honestly: how to say “about,” how to say where an idea comes from, and how to say that something is still uncertain. Listen, repeat, then make your own sentence with the words in bold. 每一課都有一張「歷史英語」卡。這八句示範怎麼老實地談時間和證據：怎麼說「大約」、怎麼說一個說法是從哪裡來的、怎麼說「這件事還不確定」。先聽、再跟著唸，然後用粗體的字自己造一句。
Our species dates back about 300,000 years.
我們這個物種可以追溯到大約 30 萬年前。
dates back: how far into the past something goes可以追溯到多久以前
People reached Australia at least 50,000 years ago.
人類至少在 5 萬年前就到了澳洲。
at least: this much, and maybe more至少這麼多，可能更多
The footprints are between 21,000 and 23,000 years old.
那些腳印的年代在 2.1 萬到 2.3 萬年之間。
between … and …: giving a range說一段範圍
According to the fossil evidence, the earliest members of our species lived in Africa.
根據化石證據，我們這個物種最早的成員住在非洲。
according to: saying where an idea comes from說明一個說法的來源
Researchers estimate that the sea was more than 120 meters lower.
研究者估計，當時的海面比現在低了 120 公尺以上。
estimate that: a careful guess based on evidence根據證據做出的謹慎推估
It is still debated when people first reached the Americas.
人類什麼時候最早到達美洲，目前仍有爭論。
it is still debated: experts do not agree yet專家還沒有一致的看法
New Zealand was settled long after the other large lands.
紐西蘭有人定居的時間，比其他大片陸地晚得多。
long after: much later than比……晚很多
The evidence so far suggests that the first Australians arrived by sea.
目前的證據顯示，最早的澳洲人是渡海來的。
the evidence so far suggests: true as far as we know now就目前所知是這樣
Taiwan at That Time · 那時候的台灣
An island that was not always an island 一座不是一直都是島的島
Every lesson ends by bringing the wider world back to Taiwan. In this lesson's long span of time, Taiwan was sometimes an island and sometimes the edge of a continent. 每一課的最後，都會把世界接回台灣。在這一課講的漫長時間裡，台灣有時候是一座島，有時候是大陸的邊緣。
🏝️
Turn on the ice-age sea level and find Taiwan on the globe. The strait is shallow, so when the sea fell, its floor became dry land and animals and people could walk across. When the ice melted, the sea came back and Taiwan became an island again. 打開冰河時期的海平面，在地球儀上找到台灣。台灣海峽很淺，所以海面下降的時候，海底變成了陸地，動物和人可以直接走過來。冰融化以後，海水回來，台灣又變成一座島。
The oldest known culture目前所知最古老的文化
Stone tools from the Baxian Caves in Changbin, Taitung, belong to the Changbin Culture, which the National Museum of Prehistory calls the oldest prehistoric culture in Taiwan. Excavations show that its Old Stone Age layers are about 30,000 to 15,000 years old. 台東長濱八仙洞出土的石器屬於長濱文化；國立臺灣史前文化博物館稱它是「臺灣最古老的史前文化」。考古發掘顯示，那裡的舊石器時代地層大約是 3 萬到 1.5 萬年前的。
The National Museum of Prehistory explains that in the ice age the lower sea level in the Taiwan Strait formed a land bridge to the Asian mainland, and that about 12,000 years ago, as the ice retreated, the strait formed again and separated the two. 國立臺灣史前文化博物館說明：冰河時期臺灣海峽的海水面降低，形成與亞洲大陸相連的陸橋；大約 1.2 萬年前冰河消退，臺灣海峽形成，隔開了兩地。
Fishing boats dragging nets along the seafloor near Penghu have brought up many fossils, the remains of animals that lived there when it was land. One is a human jaw called Penghu 1. In 2025, a study of its proteins identified it as a Denisovan man. Its age is uncertain because it was not found in the ground: either 10,000 to 70,000 or 130,000 to 190,000 years. 在澎湖附近海底拖網作業的漁船，撈起過許多化石，是那裡還是陸地的時候生活在當地的動物留下的。其中有一塊人的下顎，叫做「澎湖一號」。2025 年，一項分析蛋白質的研究確認它屬於一位丹尼索瓦人男性。因為它不是從地層裡挖出來的，年代不確定：可能是 1 萬到 7 萬年前，也可能是 13 萬到 19 萬年前。
For decades, schoolbooks said the oldest human fossils in Taiwan were those of “Zuozhen Man” from Tainan, thought to be 20,000 to 30,000 years old. In 2015, researchers at the National Taiwan Museum reported that new radiocarbon tests put the skull pieces at only about 3,000 years old. 幾十年來，課本都說台灣最古老的人類化石是台南的「左鎮人」，年代被認為有 2 萬到 3 萬年。2015 年，國立臺灣博物館的研究人員表示，重新做的放射性碳定年顯示那些頭骨碎片只有大約 3,000 年。
A mine, a lakeshore, a tiny bone, and a canoe 一座礦坑、一片湖岸、一小塊骨頭，和一艘獨木舟
Four short stories about how this history was found, and about the people who lived it. 四個小故事：這段歷史是怎麼被找到的，以及活在其中的人。
2017 · Morocco · 摩洛哥
A hundred thousand years, added overnight一夕之間多出十萬年
In the early 1960s, mining at Jebel Irhoud uncovered human bones, and for decades nobody could be sure how old they were. A new dig found more bones and burned flint tools that could be dated. In 2017 the team announced an age of about 315,000 years. That was about 100,000 years older than the oldest fossils of our species known until then, which came from East Africa; the new record holder lay in the far northwest of the continent. 1960 年代初，傑貝爾依羅的採礦工程挖出了人骨，幾十年來沒有人能確定它們有多古老。新的發掘找到了更多骨頭，還有可以拿來定年的、被火燒過的燧石石器。2017 年，研究團隊宣布年代大約是 31.5 萬年前——比當時已知最古老的智人化石（來自東非）早了大約十萬年，而新的紀錄保持者位在非洲大陸的最西北邊。
North America · 北美洲
Footprints of children孩子的腳印
At White Sands, people walked across the soft mud beside a lake, and the mud kept their tracks. Most of the footprints studied so far were made by teenagers and children. Mammoths and giant ground sloths left tracks in the same mud. Fossils are usually bones. These are something rarer: a few minutes of somebody's day. 在白沙，人走過湖邊鬆軟的泥地，泥巴留住了他們的足跡。目前研究過的腳印，大多是青少年和小孩留下的。長毛象和巨型地懶也在同一片泥地上留下了足跡。化石通常是骨頭；這些腳印更少見——它們是某個人一天裡的幾分鐘。
2022 · Nobel Prize · 諾貝爾獎
Reading DNA from ancient bones從古老的骨頭裡讀出 DNA
The Swedish scientist Svante Pääbo spent decades learning how to recover DNA from bones tens of thousands of years old. His team read the Neanderthal genome, and from a small finger bone found in a Siberian cave they identified a kind of human nobody had known about, the Denisovans. In 2022 he received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. 瑞典科學家帕博（Svante Pääbo）花了幾十年，研究怎麼從幾萬年前的骨頭裡取出 DNA。他的團隊讀出了尼安德塔人的基因體，又從西伯利亞一處洞穴裡發現的一小塊指骨，認出了一種以前沒有人知道的人類：丹尼索瓦人。2022 年，他獲得諾貝爾生理醫學獎。
About 1250 CE · 大約西元 1250 年
The last large land最後一塊大陸地
By about 3,000 years ago, people had sailed to islands deep in the Pacific such as Vanuatu. Much later, between about 1190 and 1290 CE, voyagers in sailing canoes reached the farthest corners of the Pacific within a few generations: Hawaii, Rapa Nui, and New Zealand. The ancestors of the Māori settled New Zealand at about the time castles and cathedrals were being built in Europe. 大約 3,000 年前，人類已經航行到太平洋深處的島嶼，例如萬那杜。很久以後，大約在西元 1190 到 1290 年之間，駕著風帆獨木舟的航海者在幾代人的時間裡，抵達了太平洋最遠的幾個角落：夏威夷、拉帕努伊（復活節島）和紐西蘭。毛利人的祖先在紐西蘭定居的時候，歐洲正在蓋城堡和大教堂。
In the Curriculum · 對應課綱
Where this lesson fits 這一課對應的課綱
These entries come from Taiwan's 12-Year Basic Education curriculum for social studies (October 2018). The curriculum's world history begins with early cultures in Africa and West Asia; it has no entry on how the first humans spread across the world. So this lesson is background for those entries, not a match for any one of them. 下面的條目出自十二年國民基本教育課程綱要社會領域（民國 107 年 10 月）。課綱的世界史從非洲與西亞的早期文化開始，沒有談「最早的人類怎麼擴散到世界各地」的條目。所以這一課是這些條目的背景知識，並不直接對應其中任何一條。
歷 A-Ⅳ-1國中・歷史的基礎觀念 · Junior high · basic ideas in history
紀年與分期。
This lesson introduces BCE and CE, explains that there is no year zero, and shows on the timeline how short the age of writing is.這一課介紹西元前與西元的寫法、說明沒有「0 年」，並用時間軸讓學生看到有文字的時代有多短。
歷 Ba-Ⅳ-1國中・早期臺灣 · Junior high · early Taiwan
考古發掘與史前文化。
The “Taiwan at That Time” card ties the world story to the Changbin Culture and to how archaeological dates are obtained.「那時候的台灣」把世界的故事接到長濱文化，以及考古的年代是怎麼得來的。
歷 Na-Ⅳ-1國中・古代文化的遺產 · Junior high · the heritage of ancient cultures
非洲與西亞的早期文化。
World history in the curriculum starts here. This lesson explains how people came to be living in those regions, and everywhere else, long before.課綱的世界史從這裡開始。這一課說明在那之前很久，人是怎麼來到這些地區、以及其他每一個地方的。
Myth vs. Fact · 常見迷思
Four things people get wrong 四個常見的誤會
✗ Myth · 迷思Humans evolved from monkeys.人是從猴子變來的。
✓ Fact · 事實Humans are not descended from monkeys or from any other primate living today. Humans and chimpanzees share a common ancestor that lived between about 8 and 6 million years ago; since then the two lines have each gone their own way. Chimpanzees are our cousins, not our grandparents.人不是猴子的後代，也不是今天任何一種靈長類的後代。人和黑猩猩有一個共同的祖先，生活在大約 800 萬到 600 萬年前；從那以後，兩條支系各走各的路。黑猩猩是我們的表親，不是我們的祖父母。
✗ Myth · 迷思Human evolution was a straight line, with one kind of human turning into the next.人類的演化是一直線，一種人變成下一種人。
✓ Fact · 事實It was more like a bushy tree. Scientists recognize some 15 to 20 species of early humans, often two or more lived at the same time, and most of them left no living descendants.它比較像一棵枝葉茂密的樹。科學家認出大約 15 到 20 種早期的人類，常常有兩種以上同時存在，而且大多數都沒有留下活到今天的後代。
✗ Myth · 迷思Neanderthals were our ancestors, and they were slow and dim.尼安德塔人是我們的祖先，而且又笨又遲鈍。
✓ Fact · 事實Neanderthals were close relatives, not our direct ancestors, although many people today carry a little of their DNA. Their brains were at least as large as ours, in keeping with their sturdy bodies, and the Natural History Museum in London describes them as “very intelligent and accomplished humans.”尼安德塔人是我們的近親，不是直系祖先，雖然今天很多人身上帶著一點點他們的 DNA。他們的腦至少和我們一樣大，和他們粗壯的身體相稱；倫敦自然史博物館形容他們是「非常聰明、很有本事的人類」。
✗ Myth · 迷思In the ice age, people could walk anywhere, because land bridges joined all the continents.冰河時期到處都有陸橋，人可以走到任何地方。
✓ Fact · 事實Land bridges appeared only where the sea was shallow. To reach Australia, people had to make several sea crossings, at least one of them close to 100 kilometers. The islands of the remote Pacific were never joined to anything.只有海很淺的地方才會出現陸橋。要到澳洲，人們得渡好幾次海，其中至少有一段將近 100 公里。太平洋深處的島嶼，從來沒有和任何陸地相連過。
Remember It · 記憶口訣
Four lines to keep 四句帶著走
Africa first, then everywhere先在非洲，再到各地
For most of our species' 300,000 years, nearly everyone lived in Africa. The spread across the rest of the world came in the last quarter of that time. 我們這個物種的 30 萬年裡，大部分時間幾乎所有人都住在非洲。走到世界其他地方，是最後四分之一的時間才發生的事。
Ice up, sea down, bridges out冰變多，海變低，橋出來
When ice sheets grow, the sea falls and shallow seafloor becomes land. When the ice melts, the bridges drown again. 冰層變大，海面就下降，淺淺的海底變成陸地。冰一融化，陸橋又被淹沒。
Bones, stones, genes骨頭、石頭、基因
Fossils show the body. Tools show that people were there. DNA shows who is related to whom. Use all three, and remember what none of them can tell. 化石看身體，石器看「有人來過」，DNA 看誰和誰有親緣關係。三種一起用，也要記得有些事三種都說不出來。
Always say “about”永遠加上「大約」
Dates this old come as ranges. A range is not a failure to know; it is an exact statement of how much is known. 這麼古老的年代，都是一段範圍。範圍不代表「不知道」，而是精確地說出「知道多少」。
Classroom Activity 1 · 課堂活動一
A 30-Meter Timeline 一條 30 公尺的時間軸
You need · 準備材料
A rope or a strip of paper tape 30 meters long (a hallway or playground works well)一條 30 公尺長的繩子或紙膠帶（走廊或操場都很適合）
A tape measure, clothespins or sticky notes, and markers捲尺、曬衣夾或便利貼、彩色筆
Steps · 步驟
Lay out the rope. One end is 300,000 years ago; the other end is today. That makes 1 meter equal to 10,000 years, and 1 centimeter equal to 100 years.把繩子拉直。一端是 30 萬年前，另一端是今天。這樣 1 公尺就是 1 萬年，1 公分就是 100 年。
In English, read out each event from the parallel timeline and work out together where it goes. For a range, clip two pins and say “between … and …”.用英文唸出平行時間軸上的每一件事，一起算出它該放在哪裡。遇到範圍就夾兩個夾子，並且說「between … and …」。
Mark the first writing, about 5,300 years ago. It is only 53 centimeters from the end.標出最早的文字（大約 5,300 年前）。它離終點只有 53 公分。
Ask each student to stand where one event is and say one sentence about it, using a phrase from the History English card.請每位學生站到一件事的位置上，用「歷史英語」卡裡的一個句型說一句話。
Ask before you measure: “Where do you think writing begins?” Most people guess much too far from the end. The surprise is the lesson. 量之前先問：「你覺得文字是從哪裡開始的？」大多數人都會猜得離終點太遠。那一下驚訝，就是這堂課要教的東西。
Classroom Activity 2 · 課堂活動二
What Can the Evidence Say? 證據能說什麼？
You need · 準備材料
For each group, an envelope with three “finds”: a picture of a bone, a pebble or a picture of a stone tool, and a card that says “DNA: shares some DNA with people living far to the east”每組一個信封，裡面有三樣「出土物」：一張骨頭的圖片、一顆小石頭或石器的圖片、一張寫著「DNA：和住在很遠的東邊的人有一部分相同」的卡片
A sheet with two columns: “We can say” and “We cannot say”一張分成兩欄的紙：「我們可以說」和「我們不能說」
Steps · 步驟
Tell the class that these three things were found in one cave. Each group studies its envelope for five minutes.告訴全班：這三樣東西是在同一個洞穴裡發現的。每一組花五分鐘研究信封裡的東西。
Groups write at least three sentences in each column, in English. For example: “We can say that people were here.” “We cannot say what language they spoke.”各組用英文在兩欄各寫至少三句。例如：「We can say that people were here.」「We cannot say what language they spoke.」
Now give every group one new clue: “A second team dated the cave and got a different age.” Ask what they would want to check before choosing.接著發給每組一條新線索：「另一個團隊替這個洞穴定年，得到不一樣的年代。」問他們在做選擇之前，會想先查清楚什麼。
Share the lists. Keep the “cannot say” column on the wall for the rest of the series.各組分享清單。把「我們不能說」那一欄貼在牆上，整個系列都留著。
There is no single right answer to step 3. The aim is for students to ask good questions: How was it dated? What exactly was dated? Could things have moved between layers? 第三步沒有標準答案。目標是讓學生問出好問題：是怎麼定年的？定的到底是什麼東西？東西有沒有可能在地層之間移動過？
Checked October 2026. Dates for this period change as new finds are published; each figure in the lesson comes from the source listed here · 2026 年 10 月查證。這個時期的年代會隨著新的發現而改變；課文裡的每一個數字都出自下面列的資料
Lake Mungo: both burials at about 40,000 years, give or take 2,000; Australia's oldest human remains蒙哥湖：兩處墓葬都在大約 4 萬年前（誤差 2 千年）；澳洲最古老的人類遺骸Bowler et al., Nature 421 (2003) ↗
Monte Verde: the 2026 study arguing for an age of about 8,000 to 4,000 years蒙特維德：2026 年主張年代只有大約 8,000 到 4,000 年的研究Surovell et al., Science 391 (2026) ↗
East Polynesia: Society Islands about 1025 to 1120 CE; the remaining islands, including New Zealand, about 1190 to 1290 CE東玻里尼西亞：社會群島約西元 1025–1120 年；其餘島嶼（含紐西蘭）約西元 1190–1290 年Wilmshurst et al., PNAS 108 (2011) ↗
Ice sheets at their maximum from 26,500 to about 19,000 or 20,000 years ago冰層最大的時期：2.65 萬到大約 1.9 或 2 萬年前Clark et al., Science 325 (2009) ↗
Changbin Culture, the land bridge across the Taiwan Strait, and the strait re-forming about 12,000 years ago長濱文化、臺灣海峽的陸橋，以及大約 1.2 萬年前海峽再度形成國立臺灣史前文化博物館・臺灣史前文化雲「舊石器時代」 ↗
