The bones of prehistoric man were discovered near Ramla near Tel Aviv. The new type bears similarities to the remains of other primordial humans in Israel and Eurasia who lived about 400,000 years ago.
According to Tel Aviv University, the discovery calls into question the prevailing assumption that Neanderthals originated in Europe. The findings mean “that the famous Neanderthals of Western Europe are just the remnants of a much larger population that lived here in the Levant — not the other way around,” said a university professor. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem was also involved in the investigation.
Two groups
The find suggests that two groups of prehistoric humans coexisted in the Levant for more than 100,000 years. They would have shared knowledge and tooling techniques. The Nesher Ramla Homo lived in the region from 400,000 years ago. Homo sapiens came later, about 200,000 years ago. Later finds indicate that the two groups also mixed.
Nesher Ramla combines features of Neanderthals, especially teeth and jaws, and early humans, especially the skull. At the same time, he is very different from modern people. He has a very different skull structure, no chin and very large teeth, the researchers found.
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