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Fossils found in Morocco date back 300,000 years Scientists say skulls and tools help to date findings By Nicole Mortillaro, CBC News Posted: Jun 07, 2017 1:00 PM ET A recent finding of human bones dating back 300,000 years calls into question the belief that modern humans evolved in East Africa, researchers say. An international team of scientists has dated fossils found in Jebel Irhoud, about 90 kilometres northwest of Marakesh, Morocco, to be 300,000 years old — 100,000 years earlier than the previous specimens of Homo sapiens discovered in east Africa. The scientists tout this as a significant finding, not just because of the age, but because of the location. It's long been believed that East Africa was where modern humans evolved. But finding the specimens in northwest Africa challenges that idea. "There is no Garden of Eden in Africa," Jean-Jacques Hublin, author of a paper published in Nature on Wednesday and director of the department of human evolution at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, told journalists at a briefing on Tuesday. "Or if there is a Garden of Eden, it's Africa." more... cbc.ca/news/technology/oldest-homo-sapiens-discovered-morocco-1.4147852 |
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