Israeli scientists have found bones belonging to a ‘new type of early human’ previously unknown to science. This discovery sheds new light on the course of human evolution.
Archeological digs near the city of Ramla by a team from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have discovered prehistoric remains that could not be matched to any known species from the Homo genus. And these also include modern humans (Homo sapiens).
The study was published in the journal Science, University of Tel Aviv anthropologists and archaeologists led by Yossi Zaidner have dubbed the find the ‘Nesher Ramla Homo type’ after the site where the bones were found.
It dates between 140,000 and 120,000 years ago. Interestingly, the morphology of the Nesher Ramla humans shares features with both Neanderthals and archaic Homo.
At the same time, this type of Homo is very unlike modern humans. It displays a completely different skull structure, no chin, and very large teeth.
Apart from the human remains, the dig uncovered large quantities of animal bones as well as stone tools.
‘Nesher Ramla Homo’ used advanced stone-tool production technologies. Most likely, they also interacted with the local Homo sapiens,” archaeologists believe.
Chances are some fossils previously discovered in Israel dating back as far as 400,000 years could belong to the same prehistoric human type.
This Nesher Ramla discovery calls into question the widely accepted theory that Neanderthals first emerged in Europe before migrating south.
This also clears the air. That the famous Neanderthals of Western Europe are only the remnants of a much larger population that lived in the Levant — and not the other way around.
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