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'First of our kind' found in Morocco. [merged]


Hanslune

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http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40194150

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Fossils of five early humans have been found in North Africa that show Homo sapiens emerged at least 100,000 years earlier than previously recognised. 

It suggests that our species evolved all across the continent, the scientists involved say. 

Their work is published in the journal Nature.

Prof Jean-Jacques Hublin, of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, told me that the discovery would "rewrite the text books" about our emergence as a species. 

"It is not the story of it happening in a rapid way in a 'Garden of Eden' somewhere in Africa. Our view is that it was a more gradual development and it involved the whole continent. So if there was a Garden of Eden, it was all of Africa." 

 

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"We are not trying to say that the origin of our species was in Morocco - rather that the Jebel Irhoud discoveries show that we know that [these type of sites] were found all across Africa 300,000 years ago," said MPI team member Dr Shannon McPhearon. 

 

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Prof Stringer says it is not inconceivable that primitive humans who had smaller brains, bigger faces, stronger brow ridges and bigger teeth - but who were nonetheless Homo sapiens - may have existed even earlier in time, possibly as far back as half a million years ago. This is a startling shift in what those who study human origins believed not so long ago. 

 

Edited by Hanslune
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http://www.livescience.com/59398-oldest-homo-sapiens-fossils-discovered.html

The oldest known bones of our species, dating back around 300,000 years, have been discovered in a cave in Morocco.

The fossils — which belong to five individuals, including a teenager and a younger child — push back the origin of Homo sapiens by 100,000 years, scientists say. The fossils also suggest that our species originated throughout the entire African continent instead of mainly in its eastern corner as previous research had suggested.

The findings, described in two studies published in the June 8 issue of the journal Nature, represent the very roots of our species, the researchers said. As such, they help to clarify when and where Homo sapiens evolved from earlier lineages, such as Homo heidelbergensis or Homo rhodesiensis.

The five individuals may have been taking shelter in the Moroccan cave while hunting, possibly for gazelle or wildebeest, in what may have been a green Sahara. Though their faces looked a lot like ours do today, the individuals discovered in Morocco had smaller versions of a brain region called the cerebellum and an elongated braincase, the researchers said.

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  • The title was changed to 'First of our kind' found in Morocco. [merged]

Got a species name yet?

Harte

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1 hour ago, Harte said:

Got a species name yet?

Harte

"Our" species, therefore homo sapiens. 

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Yeah, thanks.

Harte

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First Oldest Hominid bones in Greece, not Oldest H. Sapiens found in Morocco... Sounds like a Mediterranean based theory of human evolution might not be far behind.

Edited by DieChecker
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9 hours ago, Harte said:

Got a species name yet?

Harte

Homo Sapien Wannabeeist?

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5 hours ago, DieChecker said:

First Oldest Hominid bones in Greece, not Oldest H. Sapiens found in Morocco... Sounds like a Mediterranean based theory of human evolution might not be far behind.

Might be I don't think you'll ever find a specific point but may be able to point to a general location like: Earth or the Asian, European & Africa mega continent!

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