Scientists said Thursday they had discovered a new species of early human after studying fossilized bone fragments excavated at a site used by a cement factory in central Israel. Researchers from Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem say the skull and mandible fragments with teeth are about 130,000 years old and could force them to rethink parts of the human family tree.
Nesher Ramlet Homo – named after the place where it was found southeast of Tel Aviv – may have lived with our species, Homo sapiens, for more than 100,000 years, and may have interbred, according to the findings. The study adds that early humans, who had very large teeth and lacked a chin, may also have been the ancestor of Neanderthals, challenging current thinking that our evolutionary cousins came from Europe.
“The discovery of a new species of Homo is very scientifically exciting,” said Israel Hershkowitz of Tel Aviv University, one of the leaders of the team that analyzed the remains. “This allows us to create new meaning for previously discovered human fossils, add another piece to the puzzle of human evolution, and understand human migration in the ancient world.”
The university said in their statement that Dr. Yossi Zeidner of Hebrew University discovered the fossil while exploring the mining area of the Nesher cement factory near the town of Ramle. tools and bones
Excavations revealed bones at a depth of eight meters between stone tools and bones of horses and deer. The study says that the Nesher Ramla clan is similar to pre-Neanderthal groups in Europe.
Hela May, a physical anthropologist at the Dan David Center and Shmonis Institute, said Tel Aviv University experts have not been able to fully explain how Homo sapiens genes were present in earlier Neanderthal populations in Europe, and the Nesher Ramla may be the mysterious group responsible. .
He said the jawbone had no chin and the skull was flat. Analysis of the 3D figures then ruled out their association with other known groups. What they did, May said, was a small number of mysterious human fossils found elsewhere in Israel, dating back to earlier times, that anthropologists could not locate.
“As a crossroads between Africa, Europe and Asia, the Land of Israel was a melting pot of disparate groups of people, then spread throughout the ancient world,” said Dr. Rachel Sarrig, from Tel Aviv University. (Edited by Andrew Heavens)
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is created automatically from a shared feed.)
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