Modern Human Skulls Found in Ethiopia

160,000-year-old pre-human skulls, believed to be the oldest-known remains of early modern humans, were discovered in Africa.

Based on genetic analyses, scientists have been pointing out that modern humans arose in Africa between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago, but failed to find hard evidence so far. And the new skulls strongly support the "Out of Africa" theory.

In two papers published in the science journal Nature, a group of researchers led by Prof. Tim White at the University of California at Berkeley said that they nearly completed skulls of two adult males and one child.

The research team discovered pieces of skull and teeth from 10 individuals, stone tools and the remains of large animals in Ethiopia`s Afar region in 1997, and later found out that they were dated at between 160,000 and 154,000 years old.

The most complete skull of a male adult has modern features. It has a reduced brow that contrasts with older humans` projecting heavy-browed skulls, and is a little larger than that of a modern human.

The fossils of a creature named Homo Sapiens Edaltus – Edaltus means "elder" in the Afar language.

˝The newly discovered fossils fill a big gap in the African human fossil record, the period between about 100,000 and 300,000 years ago,˝ said Prof. White. ˝They used tools to hunt hippos and water buffalos and know how to use plants.˝

dongho@donga.com