The commonly accepted history of humans is that our ancestors left Africa some 120,000 years ago. But a recent discovery in Israel may prove that idea wrong.
A study published in the journal Science reveals that archaeologists in northern Israel have found what they believe to be a nearly 200,000-year-old fossil belonging to an early Homo sapiens. The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday that the fossil was discovered just a few miles south of the Israeli city Haifa, in a cave that "probably served as a shelter for these hominids." The fossil is only a partial fragment of a mouth, but one scientist who snuck a peek at it told the paper that some of the relic's traits "clearly indicated it was Homo sapiens."
The discovery is significant because previously, no Homo sapiens remnants had been discovered outside of Africa that were more than roughly 120,000 years old, the study authors wrote. If the Haifa finding is in fact a fragment of a Homo sapiens skeleton, it would indicate that early humans left Africa much earlier than was previously thought. A paleontologist at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History explained that the discovery "leaves open the possibility that Homo sapiens ventured long distances but were not successful in taking up permanent residence in western or eastern Asia."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"This changes the whole concept of modern human evolution," said Israel Hershkovitz, the anthropology professor at Tel Aviv University who led the excavation. Read more at the Los Angeles Times.
-
Fannie Flagg’s 6 favorite books that sparked her imaginationFeature The author recommends works by Johanna Spyri, John Steinbeck, and more
-
Google: A monopoly past its prime?Feature Google’s antitrust case ends with a slap on the wrist as courts struggle to keep up with the tech industry’s rapid changes
-
Patrick Hemingway: The Hemingway son who tended to his father’s legacyFeature He was comfortable in the shadow of his famous father, Ernest Hemingway
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wifespeed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
