A team of archaeologists have discovered the fossilized remains of 5 different people in Morocco. Analysis has lead to the belief that these are the oldest known fossils of Homo sapiens, 100,000 years older than those previously found in Ethiopia in 2003.
Magic Valley News reports the fossils were discovered in an area of Morocco known as Jebel Irhoud. They were initially linked to Neanderthals but the latest report claims the remains as Homo sapiens:
“I think it’s wonderful that finally we’ve got a date from Jebel Irhoud,” said Frank Brown, a University of Utah geologist and author of the Kibish reanalysis who was not involved in the new research. “ They’re not Homo neanderthalensis. They’re not Homo erectus. They’re not Homo anybody else.”
The New York times reports scientists are excited by these findings, as it will help them to trace the history of our species. Dr. Phillip Gunz, a paleoanthropologist from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany considers this as evidence that our species may have been evolving as a network of groups spread across Africa.
And today we celebrate...