Fossil found in Israel reveals that men could have left Africa up to 100,000 years earlier than previously thought

The upper part of a jaw, which keeps several teeth in relative good condition, and numerous fragments of stone tools can help clarify one of the great questions about human evolution: When did our ancestors leave Africa?

The fossils found in a cave at a site on Mount Carmel in Israel are estimated to be between 177,000 and 194,000 years old, experts estimate, which would make them the oldest human remains found outside of Africa.

Although Homo sapiens appeared for the first time in Africa approximately 300,000 years ago , until now, the oldest human remains found outside the continent went back to a range of between 90,000 and 120,000 years, so the jaw found is between 50,000 and 100,000 years earlier. 

This jump back in time would imply that modern humans had relationships with other human groups that subsequently disappeared, for longer than previously believed.

"This is an exciting discovery that confirms other suggestions of a previous migration outside Africa," added paleoanthropologist Rolf Quam of Binghamton University in New York and co-author of the study published in the journal Science .

"Now we finally have fossil evidence of this migration, in addition to inferences obtained from ancient DNA studies and archaeological sites," he added.

The investigation reveals that the teeth belonged to a young adult, although they have not determined the gender. 

Rewrite history
The jaw was found in 2002 , but researchers have spent more than a decade looking for more remains to contextualize their research, which includes the analysis of blades, thousands of fragments of stone tools, several stoves and the bones of burned animals.

The Homo sapiens appeared for the first time in Africa and their oldest known fossils are from approximately 300,000 years ago, it is unknown exactly when he emigrated to populate the rest of the world, a fact that was key to his survival, and that this finding could help to clarify .

"The biggest unknowns about human evolution are when our ancestors started to leave Africa and what route they took," said Israel Hershkovitz, an anthropologist at Tel Aviv University and author of a study published in the journal Science.

Experts believe that our species migrated from Africa more than once. "It is evident that human beings were constantly migrating," said Mina Weinstein-Evron, one of the authors of the article. "Now we have to rewrite this story," he concluded.