The last stage of human evolution ended with the appearance of Homo sapiens sapiens. Scholars are still in debate as to when they first began to emerge. They have been found in Africa dating to as far back as 100,000 y.a and not until 35,000 y.a. in Europe and parts of China. The sites in Africa are from the Klasies River, Border cave and Omo Kibish in Ethiopia. All these sites have been dated to between 120,000 y.a and 80,000 y.a. In Isreal sites called Skhul cave at Mt. Carmel dating 150,000 y.a. and the Qafzeh cave dating to 100,000 y.a.

  Finds in Asia are at the famous upper levels of the Zhoukoudain cave and at Ordos in China. Ordos was dated to 50,000 y.a while Zhokiudain was only dated between 18,000 y.a. and 10,000 y.a. The most famous finds in Europe were found in 1868 in the Cro-Magnon site near Les Eyzies in France. This site was dated at only 30,000 y.a. Various sites have been found in the New World but none date earlier than 12,000 y.a.