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 aliasinkhorn rated 5 months ago - Clue unearthed Fossil shatters previous theories about human migration to Europe, U-M researcher says
From the page: Hidden underneath layers of sediment in a cave in northern Spain was an unassuming but breakthrough scientific find: the jawbone of the oldest-known human ancestor in Europe.
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- aliasinkhorn rated 5 months ago
- Clue unearthed Fossil shatters previous theories about human migration to Europe, U-M researcher says
From the page: Hidden underneath layers of sediment in a cave in northern Spain was an unassuming but breakthrough scientific find: the jawbone of the oldest-known human ancestor in Europe.
The fossil, dated at approximately 1.2 million years old, shatters scientists' previous theories about human migration to Europe, said University of Michigan researcher Josep Pares, who was a member of the team that found the jawbone last summer.
We totally confirmed that human occupation in Europe was much earlier than previously thought. ... I think that the present theories need to be reconsidered, honestly,'' said Pares, who left May 2 to return to the Spanish work site for three months.
The fossil is from an ancestor to modern humans called Homo antecessor, or pioneer man,'' which begot Homo sapiens and the Neanderthal species.
Conventional wisdom says that Europe remained untouched by human populations until around 500,000 years ago. But the jawbone proves that theory extinct, Pares said.
It instead suggests that as human migration moved north out of Africa, it formed two pulses'' - one that moved east into Asia and another that moved west into Europe. Fossils approximately 1.7 million years old found in the country Georgia also support that theory, Pares said.
An expert in paleomagnetism and rock magnetism, Pares was closely involved in dating the fossilized jawbone from Spain. One clue to the fossil's age was the fact that it was found in under eight layers of sediment, he said.
The team, which is mostly composed of Spanish researchers, used three different methods to date the fossil: biostratigraphy, which examines the teeth of small, fossilized mammals near the fossil in question; paleomagnetism, which uses historic data of the earth's changing magnetism; and cosmogenic burial dating, which is based on the radioactive decay of the sediment surrounding a fossil.
- Mostly-Mica rated 5 months ago
- " Conventional wisdom says that Europe remained untouched by human populations until around 500,000 years ago. But the jawbone proves that theory extinct, Pares said.
It instead suggests that as human migration moved north out of Africa, it formed two "pulses'' - one that moved east into Asia and another that moved west into Europe. Fossils approximately 1.7 million years old found in the country Georgia also support that theory, Pares said. "
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