By Eddie Wrenn PUBLISHED: 14:19 EST, 20 August 2012 | UPDATED: 14:20 EST, 20 August 2012 An ancient skull unearthed in Laos has reset the clock of human migration to southern Asia back 20,000 years. The skull, found in a cave in the Annamite mountains, has been dated to between 46,000 and 63,000 years old - and appears to be the remains of an anatomically modern human being. The discovery suggests that the first modern humans to leave Africa spread around the world much earlier than was previously thought. Skull from the mists of time: The researchers studied the fragments, including recognisable teeth and cranium, which date to 63,000 years ago
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Skull found in cave in Annamite mountains, Laos, dates from 46,000 and 63,000 years ago
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Previous discoveries suggested humanity only left Africa around 27,000 years ago
Experts believe the ancestors of people alive today either evolved in @placeholder and then colonised the world, or evolved in different locations across the globe.