When did the first humans appear?

The oldest known fossils of our species, Homo sapiens, come from Jebel Irhoud in Morocco and are about 300,000 years old — pushing back earlier estimates of around 200,000 years. Our broader genus Homo, which includes ancestors like Homo erectus, appeared over 2 million years ago. Modern humans began migrating out of Africa in significant waves roughly 60,000 to 70,000 years ago, eventually populating every continent. For a time they shared the planet with other human species, including Neanderthals, who died out around 40,000 years ago. Traces of interbreeding survive in modern human DNA.