Ethiopia fossils dated 195,000 years push back human origin: modern humans appeared 35,000 years earlier than it was previously thought.

Ethiopia fossils make modern humans 35,000 years older

Modern humans appeared 35,000 years earlier than it was previously thought

Ethiopian fossils found almost 40 years ago undergone the new dating analysis which showed we have been around for 195,000 years. Reanalysis pushes back the origin of modern human’s anatomy by 50,000 years from previous estimates, the journal Nature reported. Paleontologist Richard Leakey found the fossils in 1967 in the area of Ethiopia's Omo River and estimated them to be 130,000 years old. First set of remains, Omo 1, featured part of a skull and some skeletal bones while Omo 2 contained more complete skull. Ian McDougall, a geologist at the Australian National University in Canberra, returned in the Omo area several times between 1999 and 2003, and obtained more parts of Omo 1 as well as animal fossils and stone tools. Expeditionary team studied the elder layers of river sediment in which the fossils were found. Latest analysis concluded that fossils are far older than it was estimated previously and are very close to a layer of volcanic ash laid down 196,000 years ago. "It pushes back the beginning of anatomically modern humans," said geologist Frank Brown, a co-author of the study and dean of the University of Utah's College of Mines and Earth Sciences. Brown said the renewed date of Homo sapiens origin "is significant because the cultural aspects of humanity appear much later in the [fossil] record, only 50,000 years ago, which would mean 150,000 years of Homo sapiens without cultural stuff, such as evidence of eating fish, of harpoons, of anything to do with music, needles, even [advanced] tools, except for stone knife blades." John Fleagle, an anthropologist at New York State's Stony Brook University, said that as modern human anatomy is documented earlier, “it becomes evident that there was a great time gap between the appearance of the modern skeleton and modern behavior.”

We all are from Africa

The reanalysis gave grounds to consider Africa as the only place of modern human’s origin in the world.

Two years ago, other modern-human remains discovered in Ethiopia were dated at about 160,000 years, nailing the theory that modern humans evolved in Africa before spreading around the world.

The researcher who led that work, Tim White, at the University of California Berkeley, US, told New Scientist: "Clearly the dating of these fossils has been problematical ever since they were found, so the new studies are welcome additions."

But White adds that the possibility of contamination of the samples remains, as does the uncertainty of long-range correlation of sedimentary material in a tectonically active region like east Africa. The researchers acknowledge this themselves, admitting that they cannot entirely rule out the possibility that the skulls are as young as 104,000 years old.

The new dating for the Omo fossils increases the surprisingly long interval that passed between evolution of anatomically modern humans and two significant events in human history, notes team member John Fleagle, at Stony Brook University in New York, US. Those were the arrival of humans in Europe and Asia - about 40,000 years ago - and the appearance of the oldest known cave paintings and carvings, around the same time.

Ethiopia fossils dated 195,000 push back human origin