Tiny shells may be world’s oldest beads.
Treasure hunt turns up ornaments that may be 100,000 years old
82,000 year old beads from Morocco (above).
.So, we are all meant to be descended only from one small group of Africans that left via the Gate of Tears 60,000 years ago are we?
Three modern human skulls from Herto in Ethiopia were dated and described in 2003 and at 160,000 years they are some of the oldest examples of modern humans, Homo sapiens .
‘What is also interesting is that in this paper is the first direct date on the material from Irhoud (Morocco), placing it at about the same age as the Herto finds – about 160,000 years old. This allows us to directly compare these samples from people living across North Africa, Morocco and Ethiopia.’
Testing bones and teeth
The team of scientists carried out various tests on the fossilised bones and teeth. They looked for molar teeth in the jaw that may not have erupted, an important clue to the development of a child. And a powerful X-ray technique on a fossilised tooth revealed microscopic growth lines hidden inside. This shows the tooth was immature and had grown slowly, the same as an eight-year-old child’s would today.
Long childhoods
Humans have the longest childhood of all primates, and this feature in nature is associated with complex social structures, as the brain has longer to develop during childhood.
More ancient human ancestors grew up much faster. For example Australopithecines , living about 3 million years ago, may have reached adulthood by the age of 12.
Jebel Irhoud site
The fossil remains of this child, who was about eight years old, were discovered in the Jebel Irhoud site in Morocco in 1968. ‘This is a very important site and has often been neglected in the discussions of modern human origins,’ says Chris. ‘In my own case, studies of an adult skull from this site over 30 years ago was one of the factors that led me to the view that our species had evolved in Africa.’
‘While I think that the Irhoud material is probably less ‘modern’ overall than do the authors of this paper, nevertheless these fossils could certainly represent populations ancestral to modern humans, and they show that North Africa may well have played a significant part in our origins,’ concludes Chris.
A team from the Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in France carried out the research.
The research is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .
highest frequency on earth of X-haplotype is found between moroccan berbers
jbel irhoud ancestors of modern moroccans