In Collapsed Cave, Remarkably Old Human Fossil Discovered

2002 find suggests modern humans may have left Africa 100K years earlier than thought
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 25, 2018 2:55 PM CST
Jawbone Found in 2002 Alters the Story of Human Migration
This undated photo provided by researcher Gerhard Weber shows a portion of the upper left jaw and teeth from the Misliya-1 fossil. Researchers found the jawbone in an Israeli cave, indicating that modern humans left Africa as much as 100,000 years earlier than previously thought.   (Gerhard Weber/University of Vienna via AP)

A fossil found in Israel indicates modern humans may have left Africa as much as 100,000 years earlier than previously thought. Scientists say that an ancient upper jawbone and associated stone tools could also mean that Homo sapiens—modern humans—arose in Africa far earlier than fossils now show. And it may cause rethinking about how we evolved and interacted with now-extinct cousin species, such as Neanderthals. "When they start moving out of Africa and what geographical route they choose to do it are the two most important questions in recent human evolution," said Tel Aviv University anthropologist Israel Hershkovitz, lead author of a study published in the journal Science. The jawbone, complete with several well-preserved teeth, was found to be somewhere between 177,000 and 194,000 years old, reports the AP.

Previously, the oldest fossils of modern humans found outside of Africa were somewhere from 90,000 to 120,000 years old, also in Israel. So given the range in both those estimates, the jawbone might be about 50,000 to 100,000 years older. The jaw was found in 2002 in the collapsed Misliya cave on the western slope of Mount Carmel. Researchers spent the last decade-and-a-half looking for more remains and other fossils before publishing their study. They say the jaw belonged to a young adult of unknown gender. The Science paper suggests modern humans could have left Africa 220,000 years ago, with some of the authors saying maybe it was even earlier. That's in part because the cave also contained about 60,000 flint tools, mostly blades and sharp points, some of which are 250,000 years old, per a study co-author. The AP has much more.

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