Laser Power A Discovery That Will Make Your Jaw Drop
Maxilla upper jaw
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An adult human jawbone complete with teeth discovered at Israel’s Misliya cave, one of several prehistoric cave sites located on Mount Carmel, has been dated to 177,000-194,000 years ago. The TAU finding, recently published in Science, pushes back the history of Homo sapiens migration from Africa by at least 50,000 years. “This discovery – that early modern humans were present outside of Africa earlier than commonly believed — completely changes our view on modern human evolution and dispersal,” says Prof. Israel Hershkovitz of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine and Head of the Dan David Center for Human Evolution and Biohistory Research at TAU’s Steinhardt Museum of Natural History. Prof. Hershkovitz led the international team of anthropologists who conducted the study in collaboration with archaeologist Prof. Mina Weinstein-Evron of the University of Haifa. Together, the team applied various dating techniques to determine that the jawbone is at least 170,000
years old. They also analyzed the remains using microCT scans and 3D virtual models, carried out at digital laboratories at TAU’s Shmunis Family Anthropology Institute, to compare it with other hominin fossils discovered in parts of Africa, Europe and Asia. The research was supported by the Dan David Foundation. The common consensus of anthropologists has been that modern humans appeared in Africa roughly 160,000-
200,000 years ago, and that they began migrating out of Africa only around 100,000 years ago. “But if the fossil at Misliya dates to roughly 170,000190,000 years ago, the entire narrative of the evolution of Homo sapiens must be pushed back by at least 100,000200,000 years,” says Prof. Hershkovitz, who suggested that “… while Africa was the origin of our species, some of our traits must have evolved or been acquired outside of Africa”.
