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Israeli fossils are the oldest modern humans ever found outside of Africa

Jaw and teeth mark Homo sapiens' early arrival on the Arabian Peninsula.
  1. Ewen Callaway
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The oldest human fossils ever found outside Africa suggest that Homo sapiens might have spread to the Arabian Peninsula around 180,000 years ago — much earlier than previously thought. The upper jaw and teeth, found in an Israeli cave and reported in Science on 25 January1, pre-date other human fossils from the same region by at least 50,000 years. But scientists say that it is unclear whether the fossils represent a brief incursion or a more-lasting expansion of the species.

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Nature 554, 15-16 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-01261-5

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 09 February 2018: An earlier version of this story gave the wrong URL for reference 1.

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