Out of Africa: Israeli fossil find gives new clues about early human migration
The find provides further evidence that we left Africa 50,000 years earlier than previously thought
Miami — The oldest remains of a modern human outside Africa have been dug up in Israel, offering evidence of what genetic studies have already suggested — that humans migrated out of Africa about 50,000 years earlier than previously thought. Facial fragments, including a jawbone and several teeth, were found at a site called Misliya Cave in Israel, one of several prehistoric cave sites located on Mount Carmel. The bones date to between 174,000 and 188,000 years old, said the report in Thursday’s edition of the US journal Science. Until now, the earliest modern human fossils found outside Africa were estimated to be between 90,000 and 120,000 years old. "Misliya is an exciting discovery," said co-author Rolf Quam, an anthropology professor at Binghamton University. "It provides the clearest evidence yet that our ancestors first migrated out of Africa much earlier than we previously believed." The fossil, named Misliya-1, "exhibits teeth that are in the upper size range of what’s seen...
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