A mountainous region between Europe and Asia was occupied by early humans makes a maximum of 1.85 million years ago, much earlier than the previous estimate of 1.7 million years
The team discovered more than 100 stone artifacts in deep layers of the site. Previously been found fossil bones at the site of a later period (Foto: AP y El Mundo.es )
Scientists have traditionally described the expansion of early humans around the world started in Africa, but a tantalizing new evidence suggests that the flow may have been either way.
A mountainous region between Europe and Asia was occupied by early humans makes a maximum of 1.85 million years ago, much earlier than the previous estimate of 1.7 million years, according to researchers cited in Tuesday's edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States.
The new evidence was found at an archaeological site that has been long studied: Dmanisi in the republic of Georgia today.
It was known that the first Homo erectus occupied the site, but investigators say they believe they have discovered stone tools and materials from a much earlier date, which would raise the possibility that Homo erectus may have evolved in Eurasia and migrated back to Africa. They added that more studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis.
"The cumulative evidence shows Eurasian populations growing old and primitive," said Reid Ferring, University of North Texas.
"The data show that newly discovered Dmanisi was occupied while the first appearance of Homo erectus in East Africa or even earlier," the team led by David Lordkipanidze Ferring, the National Museum of Georgia.
The team discovered more than 100 stone artifacts in deep layers of the site. Previously they had found the fossil bones of a site post.
The new discovery shows that the Caucasus region was inhabited by a constant population, not only for transient visitors.
"We do not know what they looked like the first occupants, but the implication is that similar or even more primitive than those represented by the Dmanisi fossils," said Ferring.
"The occupants of Dmanisi are the first representatives of our own genus outside Africa and represent the most primitive population of the species Homo erectus known to date," said Lordkipanidze.
Remains unknown geographical origin of Homo Erectus. The first humans to Dmanisi could be ancestors of all Homo erectus populations that were later, which would suggest a Eurasian origin of Homo erectus, Lordkipanidze said.
However, there is another theory that Homo erectus originated in Africa and Dmanisi group may represent their first migration out of Africa.
Wil Roebroeks, professor of archeology at the University of Leiden, the Netherlands, said that future studies will be expected to test the hypothesis.
Richard Potts, director of human origins program at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, was more skeptical.
"The new Dmanisi evidence consists of stone tools, no fossil bones. So I really do not really know who made the tools in the interval from 1.85 to 1.77 million ago years," he said.
"We can not know for sure until we have fossils that come from this level of seniority," he said.
The team discovered more than 100 stone artifacts in deep layers of the site. Previously been found fossil bones at the site of a later period (Foto: AP y El Mundo.es )
Scientists have traditionally described the expansion of early humans around the world started in Africa, but a tantalizing new evidence suggests that the flow may have been either way.
A mountainous region between Europe and Asia was occupied by early humans makes a maximum of 1.85 million years ago, much earlier than the previous estimate of 1.7 million years, according to researchers cited in Tuesday's edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States.
The new evidence was found at an archaeological site that has been long studied: Dmanisi in the republic of Georgia today.
It was known that the first Homo erectus occupied the site, but investigators say they believe they have discovered stone tools and materials from a much earlier date, which would raise the possibility that Homo erectus may have evolved in Eurasia and migrated back to Africa. They added that more studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis.
"The cumulative evidence shows Eurasian populations growing old and primitive," said Reid Ferring, University of North Texas.
"The data show that newly discovered Dmanisi was occupied while the first appearance of Homo erectus in East Africa or even earlier," the team led by David Lordkipanidze Ferring, the National Museum of Georgia.
The team discovered more than 100 stone artifacts in deep layers of the site. Previously they had found the fossil bones of a site post.
The new discovery shows that the Caucasus region was inhabited by a constant population, not only for transient visitors.
"We do not know what they looked like the first occupants, but the implication is that similar or even more primitive than those represented by the Dmanisi fossils," said Ferring.
"The occupants of Dmanisi are the first representatives of our own genus outside Africa and represent the most primitive population of the species Homo erectus known to date," said Lordkipanidze.
Remains unknown geographical origin of Homo Erectus. The first humans to Dmanisi could be ancestors of all Homo erectus populations that were later, which would suggest a Eurasian origin of Homo erectus, Lordkipanidze said.
However, there is another theory that Homo erectus originated in Africa and Dmanisi group may represent their first migration out of Africa.
Wil Roebroeks, professor of archeology at the University of Leiden, the Netherlands, said that future studies will be expected to test the hypothesis.
Richard Potts, director of human origins program at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, was more skeptical.
"The new Dmanisi evidence consists of stone tools, no fossil bones. So I really do not really know who made the tools in the interval from 1.85 to 1.77 million ago years," he said.
"We can not know for sure until we have fossils that come from this level of seniority," he said.
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