Inside the lab rewriting the origins of humanity
ShepherdsDog @ Wed Oct 25, 2017 11:47 am
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/25/africa/in ... index.html
$1:
Three-hundred-thousand years old, 100,000 years older than anything previously discovered, they stretched the timeline of Homo sapiens, our distant ancestors, further into the past. It left humanity with a new first chapter, blank and waiting to be written.
But it was where the fossils were found that was more intriguing still. Ethiopia was previously the site of the oldest Homo sapiens fossils, and East Africa has long been considered the "cradle of life." However, these new finds came from Jebel Irhoud in Morocco.
A long-held anthropological narrative became more complex. What were these hominids doing on the other side of the continent? Had they evolved in isolation to sapiens in East Africa? What happened during these extra 100,000 years, and could we determine a new starting point for humanity?
But it was where the fossils were found that was more intriguing still. Ethiopia was previously the site of the oldest Homo sapiens fossils, and East Africa has long been considered the "cradle of life." However, these new finds came from Jebel Irhoud in Morocco.
A long-held anthropological narrative became more complex. What were these hominids doing on the other side of the continent? Had they evolved in isolation to sapiens in East Africa? What happened during these extra 100,000 years, and could we determine a new starting point for humanity?
DrCaleb @ Thu Oct 26, 2017 5:28 am
