Evolution and humans:H. sapiens 300,000 years ago (Evolution)

by David Turell , Wednesday, June 07, 2017, 19:07 (2724 days ago) @ David Turell

New fossil find in Morocco. we are older than thought:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170607133246.htm

"New fossil finds from Morocco do more than push back the origins of our species by 100,000 years. They also reveal what was on the menu for our oldest-known Homo sapiens ancestors 300,000 years ago: Plenty of gazelle.

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"The new excavation project -- led by Jean-Jacques Hublin of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and Abdelouahed Ben-Ncer of the National Institute for Archaeology and Heritage (INSAP) in Rabat, Morocco -- uncovered 16 new Homo sapiens fossils along with stone tools and animal bones. The remains comprise skulls, teeth, and long bones of at least 5 individuals.

"Thermoluminescence dating of heated flints yielded an age of approximately 300,000 years ago -- 100,000 years earlier than the previously oldest Homo sapiens fossils.
Analysis of the animal fossils provided additional evidence to support the date. Dating of rodent remains suggested they were 337,000 to 374,000 years old.

"Steele sifted through hundreds of fossil bones and shells, identifying 472 of them to species as well as recording cut marks and breaks indicating which ones had been food for humans.

"Most of the animal bones came from gazelles. Among the other remains, Steele also identified hartebeests, wildebeests, zebras, buffalos, porcupines, hares, tortoises, freshwater mollusks, snakes and ostrich egg shells.

"Small game was a small percentage of the remains. "It really seemed like people were fond of hunting," she said.

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"Steele said the findings support the idea that Middle Stone Age began just over 300,000 years ago, and that important changes in modern human biology and behaviour were taking place across most of Africa then.

"'In my view, what it does is to continue to make it more feasible that North Africa had a role to play in the evolution of modern humans.'"

Comment: We are older than thought. And Africa is still the spot of origin. Note they were stone age beings. No complex mentation, but simple activities of hunting and gathering.