Did first humans come out of Middle East and not Africa? Israeli discovery
forces scientists to re-examine evolution of modern man
By _Matthew Kalman_
(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Matthew+Kalman)
Last updated at 7:51 AM on 28th December 2010
* _Comments (145) _
(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1341973/Did-humans-come-Middle-East-Africa-Scientists-forced-write-evolution-m
odern-man.html#comments)
* _Add to My Stories _
(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1341973/Did-humans-come-Middle-East-Africa-Scientists-forced-write-evolutio
n-modern-man.html)
Scientists could be forced to re-write the history of the evolution of
modern man after the discovery of 400,000-year-old human remains.
Until now, researchers believed that homo sapiens, the direct descendants
of modern man, evolved in Africa about 200,000 years ago and gradually
migrated north, through the Middle East, to Europe and Asia.
Recently, discoveries of early human remains in China and Spain have cast
doubt on the 'Out of Africa' theory, but no-one was certain.
Professor Avi Gopher, a researcher from Tel Aviv University's Institute of
Archaeology, holds a pre-historic tooth at Qesem cave, an excavation site
near the town of Rosh Ha'ayin
The new discovery of pre-historic human remains by Israeli university
explorers in a cave near Ben-Gurion airport could force scientists to re-think
earlier theories.
Early humans: Middle Awash Aramis, Ethiopia, where the first 'modern' human
beings were thought to have been discovered
Archeologists from Tel Aviv University say eight human-like teeth found in
the Qesem cave near Rosh Ha’Ayin - 10 miles from Israel’s international
airport - are 400,000 years old, from the Middle Pleistocene Age, making them
the earliest remains of homo sapiens yet discovered anywhere in the world.
The size and shape of the teeth are very similar to those of modern man.
Until now, the earliest examples found were in Africa, dating back only
200,000 years.
Other scientists have argued that human beings originated in Africa before
moving to other regions 150,000 to 200,000 years ago.
Homo sapiens discovered in Middle Awash, Ethiopia, from 160,000 years ago
were believed to be the oldest 'modern' human beings.
Other remains previously found in Israeli caves are thought to have been
more recent and 80,000 to 100,000 years old.
A group of international and Israeli researchers have discovered
pre-historic artefacts and human remains at the site that may prove the
earliest
existence of modern man was about 400,000 years ago
The findings of Professor Avi Gopher and Dr Ran Barkai of the Institute of
Archeology at Tel Aviv University, published last week in the American
Journal of Physical Anthropology, suggest that modern man did not originate in
Africa as previously believed, but in the Middle East.
The Qesem cave was discovered in 2000 and has been the focus of intense
study ever since.
Along with the teeth – the parts of the human skeleton that survive the
longest – the researchers found evidence of a sophisticated early human society
that used sharpened flakes of stone to cut meat and other impressive
prehistoric tools.
The Israeli scientists said the remains found in the cave suggested the
systematic production of flint blades, the habitual use of fire, evidence of
hunting, cutting and sharing of animal meat, and mining raw materials to
produce flint tools from rocks below ground.
'A diversified assemblage of flint blades was manufactured and used,' the
Tel Aviv scientists wrote, describing the tools they found in the cave.
'Thick-edged blades, shaped through retouch, were used for scraping
semi-hard materials such as wood or hide, whereas blades with straight, sharp
working edges were used to cut soft tissues.'
The explorers said they were continuing to investigate the cave and its
contents, expecting to make more discoveries that would shed further light on
human evolution in prehistoric times.
--
Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community
<[email protected]>
Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism
Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
