Science· 2018Q1
The earliest modern humans outside Africa
- 543citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2018year
Short summary
A fossilized human jawbone found in Israel, dated to at least 177,000 years old, represents the oldest Homo sapiens fossil discovered outside of Africa, pushing back the timeline of human migration significantly.
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Key points
- Oldest Homo sapiens fossil found outside Africa dated to at least 177,000 years.
- Fossil is a left hemimaxilla with almost complete dentition.
- Site contains hearths, stone industry, and animal remains.
- Significantly pushes back the timeline for modern human migration out of Africa.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Earliest modern humans out of Africa Recent paleoanthropological studies have suggested that modern humans migrated from Africa as early as the beginning of the Late Pleistocene, 120,000 years ago. Hershkovitz et al. now suggest that early modern humans were already present outside of Africa more than 55,000 years earlier (see the Perspective by Stringer and Galway-Witham). During excavations of sediments at Mount Carmel, Israel, they found a fossil of a mouth part, a left hemimaxilla, with almost complete dentition. The sediments contain a series of well-defined hearths and a rich stone-based industry, as well as abundant animal remains. Analysis of the human remains, and dating of the site and the fossil itself, indicate a likely age of at least 177,000 years for the fossil—making it the oldest member of the Homo sapiens clade found outside Africa. Science , this issue p. 456 ; see also p. 389
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Science, 2018 · DOI ↗
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Field: Archeology (Arts and Humanities)
ArcheologyArts and Humanities