Oldest Human Fossil Found Outside Africa
A human fossil found in Israel in 2002 now shows that humans may have left Africa up to 100,000 years earlier than originally thought. Researchers spent one and a half decades studying an upper jawbone and stone tools found in a cave in Israel.
The jawbone was found with teeth that were thought to be between 170 000 and 190 000 years old. CT scans helped to build a 3D model, which researchers then compared with other fossils from Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
The tools found nearby suggest that prehistoric people were busy making various objects that they used for hunting animals and gathering. While some scientists say that the tools could only have been made by homo sapiens, modern people, others do not ignore the fact that Neanderthals could also have made them.
Up to now, the oldest fossils found outside Africa were also located in Israel. According to archaeologists, they were no more than 90,000 to 120,000 years old.
The new discovery also sets back the date at which homo sapiens appeared in Africa. While the current theory says that they originated in Africa 200,000 years ago, we now may believe that they actually showed up between 300,000 and 500,000 years ago. If that is true, then they probably left Africa on short trips to other continents as early as 200,000 years ago.
Related Topics
- Neanderthals Became Extinct Because of Larger Eyes
- The Stone Age
- Neanderthals – Early Humans in Europe and Asia
- Pygmies - Short People of the Tropical Rainforest
Words
- according to = as said by ...
- appear = show up; start to exist
- archaeologist = a person who studies ancient civilisations by looking at what is left of buildings, tools etc..
- cave = a large natural hole in the side of a hill or mountain
- compare = to look at two or more things and find out the differences between them
- CT scan = an examination in which the inside of an object is produced on a computer using x-rays
- current = now
- decade = ten years
- discovery = finding something for the first time
- fossil = an animal or plant that lived many thousands of years ago and that has been preserved in rock
- gathering = to look for plants to eat
- homo sapiens = modern man; the type of human that exists now
- humans = people
- ignore = pay no attention to ...
- jawbone = one of the bones that are in your teeth
- located = found
- Neanderthal = early type of human being who lived in Europe during the Stone Age
- originally = at first
- originate = come from
- prehistoric people = people who lived a long time ago, before anything was written down
- researcher = someone who studies a subject in detail in order to find out more about it
- scientist = a person who is trained in science and works in a lab
- skull = the bones of a person's head
- stone tools = early tools that the first people made out of stone; they were used for hunting, gathering food and making fire
- suggest = to say that something may be true
- various = different kinds of ...