Our most common male ancestor - 'Adam' - emerged some 209,000 years ago - 9,000 earlier than previously thought, according to new research.
The study also puts 'Adam' within the time frame of his other half 'Eve', the genetic maternal ancestor of mankind.
The pioneering study, conducted by Dr Eran Elhaik from the University of Sheffield and Dr Dan Graur from the University of Houston, also debunked the discovery of the Y chromosome that supposedly predated humanity.
In the new research Elhaik and Graur used conventional biological models to date our most common male ancestor 'Adam' in his rightful place in evolutionary history.
The ground breaking results showed that this is 9,000 years earlier than scientists originally believed.
Their findings put 'Adam' within the time frame of his other half 'Eve', the genetic maternal ancestor of humankind.
This contradicts a recent study which had claimed the human Y chromosome originated in a different species through interbreeding which dates 'Adam' to be twice as old.
"We can say with some certainty that modern humans emerged in Africa a little over 200,000 years ago," said Elhaik.
"It is obvious that modern humans did not interbreed with hominins living over 500,000 years ago. It is also clear that there was no single 'Adam' and 'Eve' but rather groups of 'Adams and 'Eves' living side by side and wandering together in our world," said Elhaik.
"We have shown that the University of Arizona study lacks any scientific merit. In fact, their hypothesis creates a sort of 'space-time paradox 'whereby the most ancient individual belonging to Homo sapiens species has not yet been born.
"If we take the numerical results from previous studies seriously we can conclude that the past may be altered by the mother of 'Adam' deciding not to conceive him in the future, thus, bringing a retroactive end to our species," Elhaik added.
The study was published in the European Journal of Human Genetics.
