NEWS BRIEFING: Ancient skulls show we humans are 100,000 years older than we thought

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2017-06-08 03:00

Australia; NSW; QLD

Credit: Sarah Freidline, MPI-EVA, Leipzig

***BRIEFING RECORDING NOW AVAILABLE*** The fossilised skulls of five ancient Moroccans show that modern humans - Homo sapiens - have been on the planet a whole lot longer than we thought, a whopping 100,000 years to be exact. We previously believed humans originated in Africa 200,000 years ago, but these remains show we've actually been around for 300,000 years, and that we'd spread across the entire African continent by then. The remains - skulls, teeth and bones - were dated by an international team, including Australian researchers. Join us for this online briefing to hear from two Australian experts who helped determine the age of the fossils using a pair of modern techniques. They'll discuss the fossil finds, how they went about determining their age, and what the implications are for the newly extended story of our species.

Media release

From: Australian Science Media Centre

Date: Wed 7th June 2017
Start Time: 10:30am AEST
Duration: Approx 45 min
Venue: Online

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Attachments

Note: Not all attachments are visible to the general public. Research URLs will go live after the embargo ends.

Video Springer Nature, Web page Composite reconstruction of the earliest known Homo sapiens fossils from Jebel Irhoud (Morocco) based on micro computed tomographic scans of multiple original fossils. Dated to 300 thousand years ago these early Homo sapiens already have a modern-looking face that falls within the variation of humans living today. However, the archaic-looking virtual imprint of the braincase (blue) indicates that brain shape, and possibly brain function, evolved within the Homo sapiens lineage. Credit: Philipp Gunz, MPI EVA Leipzig

Video Springer Nature, Web page Virtual palaeoanthropology is able to correct distortions and fragmentations of fossil specimens. This reconstruction of the Irhoud 11 mandible allows its comparison with archaic hominins, such as Neandertals, as well as with early forms of anatomically modern Humans. Credit: Jean-Jacques Hublin, MPI-EVA Leipzig

Research Springer Nature, Web page Paper 1: the URL will go live after the embargo ends.

Research Springer Nature, Web page Paper 2 (with Australian authors): the URL will go live after the embargo ends.

Video Australian Science Media Centre, Web page Recording of AusSMC online media briefing

Journal/
conference: Nature

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Griffith University, Southern Cross University, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany

Funder:

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