Where was humankind born: on which continent or in which geographical area? That question has many answers, but none widely accepted.

Now a new research at the University of Cambridge and funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) has proved that humans originated from a single point located in Africa.

Competing theories claim different populations evolved independently from homo erectus to home sapiens in different areas.

In order to find out the truth the Cambdrige researchers studied genetic diversity of human populations around the world and measurements of over 6,000 skulls of indigenous people collected from as far afield as Alaska, South America, Africa, China and Australia.

Essentially the scientists wanted to see if the study of genetic variation - as determined by the DNA differences between people today - and the study of physical variation, as measured from the skulls, resulted in the same conclusion about human origins.

They concluded that a loss in genetic diversity the further a population is from Africa is mirrored by a loss in variation in physical attributes.

This pattern was remarkably consistent globally, the researchers found. The study places the original roots of modern humans in south-central Africa. In the middle of this region lies the Great Rift Valley—often referred to as the "cradle of humanity."

Lead researcher, Dr Andrea Manica from the University's Department of Zoology, explained: "The origin of anatomically modern humans has been the focus of much heated debate. Our genetic research shows the further modern humans have migrated from Africa the more genetic diversity has been lost within a population.”

"However, some have used skull data to argue that modern humans originated in multiple spots around the world. We have combined our genetic data with new measurements of a large sample of skulls to show definitively that modern humans originated from a single area in Sub-saharan Africa," she added.