The oldest modern human skull outside Africa

The 210,000-year-old skull analysis found in Greece showed that Homo sapiens migrated to Europe much earlier.

A 210,000-year-old Greek skull has been identified as the oldest human remains (Homo sapiens) ever outside African territory, researchers said on July 10. The new finding shows that Homo sapiens arrived in Europe 150,000 years earlier than what scientists have concluded.

The badly damaged skull is checked by a computer model.(Photo: AFP).

The southeastern part of Europe has long been regarded as the " main transport corridor" for modern migrants from Africa. However, the earliest documented evidence of their existence on the continent dates to only about 50,000 years old.

Two skulls, Apidima 1 (210,000 years old) and Apidima 2 (170,000 years old), have been excavated in a cave in Greece since the 1970s, but at that time they were determined to belong to the Neanderthals. - the closest relative of the modern person. An international team of scientists decided to use the computer model and Urani chronological analysis method to re-examine the two skulls.

The results show that Apidima 2 actually belongs to the Neanderthals, but Apidima 1 is the skull of a Homo sapiens. It lacks some typical Neanderthal features such as the characteristic bulge on the back of the head, shaped like a bun.

The new finding shows that the migration of Homo sapiens from Africa to Southern Europe took place much earlier, but for some reason, our ancestors did not settle permanently, according to Eric Delson, Anthropology professor at New York City University."Recent advances in Ancient Anthropology show that the field still has a lot of surprises," Delson said.

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