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Scientists discover oldest human fossil outside of Africa

Doyle Rice
Close-up view of the of Misliya-1 fossil, showing details of the crown topography and dental features.

Scientists have discovered the earliest modern human fossil ever found outside of Africa. The fossil, an upper jawbone with several teeth, was found at a site called Misliya Cave in Israel. 

The jawbone is estimated to be 175,000 to 200,000 years old. The age was based on three separate, independent dating methods.

The jaw belonged to a young adult of unknown gender.

The finding suggests that modern humans left the continent at least 50,000 years earlier than had previously been thought. 

"Misliya is an exciting discovery," said Rolf Quam, a Binghamton University anthropology professor and a co-author of the study. "It provides the clearest evidence yet that our ancestors first migrated out of Africa much earlier than we previously believed.

The earliest Homo sapiens fossils, the same species as us, date to around 315,000 years ago from Africa, Quam said.

The new discovery also means that "modern humans were potentially meeting and interacting during a longer period of time with other archaic human groups, providing more opportunity for cultural and biological exchanges," he said.

The archaeological evidence found with the fossil reveals that these early humans were capable hunters of large game species, controlled the production of fire and were associated with an Early Middle Paleolithic stone tool kit. 

The findings may also lead to rethinking how humans evolved and interacted with now-extinct cousin species, such as Neanderthals.


"The latest discoveries have enormous potential for understanding early populations of H. sapiens in western Asia," noted anthropologists Chris Stringer and Julia Galway-Withamin in an accompanying article in this week's issue of Science

Eric Delson, a paleoanthropologist at Lehman College and the American Museum of Natural History who wasn’t part of the study, said that “Misliya may be one of several ‘out of Africa’ migrations” and even though it is the oldest modern human fossil, there may have been even earlier migrations.


Contributing: The Associated Press

Location of early modern human fossils in Africa and the Middle East. The fossils from Jebel Irhoud date to 315,000 years ago and are thus older than Misliya, while those from Omo Kibish (195,000) and Herto (160,000) are similar in age to Misliya (177,000-194,000).