Thanks to the latest methods, researchers can determine the age of bones very precisely. In Ethiopia, they came to a spectacular conclusion.
Ethiopia – People conduct research in all possible disciplines. Researchers have found out a surprising amount even about the vastness of space. There are still numerous mysteries on earth that science has still not been able to decipher.
One of those mysteries revolves around our own lineage. Modern methods are constantly making new discoveries possible. Scientists from Baden-Württemberg* are also involved in this. Researchers from Tübingen recently even decoded the footprint of a previously unknown human species (BW24* reported). On the other hand, bone remains and skeletons represent the greatest benefit for the researchers. A particularly productive site for this is Ethiopia in East Africa. Bones of early modern humans, Homo sapiens, were uncovered there. But only now have researchers discovered that the remains are older than assumed.
Human fossil: Homo sapiens is older than thought, according to researchers
The human fossil was actually discovered decades ago. In the 1960s, researchers uncovered the human bones in Ethiopia. The scientists assumed that the remains are about 197,000 years old. In fact, this estimate was controversial even at the time.
More than 60 years later, the age of the bones has now been determined again – with astonishing results. As reported by the Haaretz portal, the scientists had probably miscalculated by 36,000 years. Thus, the specimen of Homo Sapiens from Ethiopia would be a proud 233,000 years old. A volcanic eruption finally brought the researchers closer to the exact age of the bones.
Homo sapiens older than suspected – volcanic eruption provides crucial information
Because the bones of modern man were wetted with a thin layer of volcanic ash – which can be determined thanks to modern methods. The scientists used the chemical signature of the ash, which is actually unique to each individual volcanic eruption. The ash could be assigned to the Shala volcano, which erupted 233,000 years ago.
That would make the remains from Ethiopia the “oldest known specimen of a Homo sapiens in East Africa,” according to the scientists, according to Haaretz . In fact, there are bone finds from Africa and Israel that are even older. However, research doubts whether these are actually the fossils of modern humans, since some anatomical features do not match.
For the paleoanthropologist Aurélien Mounier, who was involved in the analysis of the bones from Ethiopia, it is therefore clear that the specimen from East Africa is “the undisputed oldest complete specimen of a Homo sapiens”. This would also result in an increasing consensus about “the complexity of the evolutionary process that led to the emergence of our species”. *BW24 is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
