Humans’ early exit from Africa

A new analysis of two skull fragments found in a cave in southern Greece suggests that early humans may have first left Africa far earlier than previously thought. Until now, the oldest Homo sapiens fossil discovered outside Africa was a 180,000-year-old jawbone unearthed in Israel. Scientists think it came from one of many early human groups that tried—and ultimately failed—to settle away from Africa; it wasn’t until 50,000 years ago that our ancestors successfully relocated. The skull fragments in Greece were first discovered in the 1970s and were initially thought to belong to Neanderthals, who arrived in Europe some 400,000 years ago. But by analyzing tiny amounts of uranium in the fossils and using computers to create a 3D image of what the complete skulls would have looked like, scientists concluded that while one of the fossils was from a 170,000-year-old Neanderthal, the other was a 210,000-year-old Homo sapiens. If confirmed, that would make it the oldest modern human fossil found anywhere outside Africa. Lead author Katerina Harvati, from the University of Tübingen in Germany, tells TheGuardian.com that the discovery confirms that humans didn’t leave Africa in “one major exodus.” ■