Human ancestor's skull was found that is dated 1.8 million years old in Europe

It has long been agreed that Africa was the sole cradle of human evolution. Then these bones were found in Georgia...

By Steve Connor, Science Editor

Wednesday, 9 September 2009

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One of the skulls discovered in Georgia, which are believed to date back 1.8 million years

One of the skulls discovered in Georgia, which are believed to date back 1.8 million years

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The conventional view of human evolution and how early man colonised the world has been thrown into doubt by a series of stunning palaeontological discoveries suggesting that Africa was not the sole cradle of humankind. Scientists have found a handful of ancient human skulls at an archaeological site two hours from the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, that suggest a Eurasian chapter in the long evolutionary story of man.

The skulls, jawbones and fragments of limb bones suggest that our ancient human ancestors migrated out of Africa far earlier than previously thought and spent a long evolutionary interlude in Eurasia – before moving back into Africa to complete the story of man.

Experts believe fossilised bones unearthed at the medieval village of Dmanisi in the foothills of the Caucuses, and dated to about 1.8 million years ago, are the oldest indisputable remains of humans discovered outside of Africa.
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But what has really excited the researchers is the discovery that these early humans (or "hominins") are far more primitive-looking than the Homo erectus humans that were, until now, believed to be the first people to migrate out of Africa about 1 million years ago.

The Dmanisi people had brains that were about 40 per cent smaller than those of Homo erectus and they were much shorter in stature than classical H. erectus skeletons, according to Professor David Lordkipanidze, general director of the Georgia National Museum. "Before our findings, the prevailing view was that humans came out of Africa almost 1 million years ago, that they already had sophisticated stone tools, and that their body anatomy was quite advanced in terms of brain capacity and limb proportions. But what we are finding is quite different," Professor Lordkipanidze said.

"The Dmanisi hominins are the earliest representatives of our own genus – Homo – outside Africa, and they represent the most primitive population of the species Homo erectus to date. They might be ancestral to all later Homo erectus populations, which would suggest a Eurasian origin of Homo erectus."

Speaking at the British Science Festival in Guildford, where he gave the British Council lecture, Professor Lordkipanidze raised the prospect that Homo erectus may have evolved in Eurasia from the more primitive-looking Dmanisi population and then migrated back to Africa to eventually give rise to our own species, Homo sapiens – modern man.

"The question is whether Homo erectus originated in Africa or Eurasia, and if in Eurasia, did we have vice-versa migration? This idea looked very stupid a few years ago, but today it seems not so stupid," he told the festival.

The scientists have discovered a total of five skulls and a solitary jawbone. It is clear that they had relatively small brains, almost a third of the size of modern humans. "They are quite small. Their lower limbs are very human and their upper limbs are still quite archaic and they had very primitive stone tools," Professor Lordkipanidze said. "Their brain capacity is about 600 cubic centimetres. The prevailing view before this discovery was that the humans who first left Africa had a brain size of about 1,000 cubic centimetres."

The only human fossil to predate the Dmanisi specimens are of an archaic species Homo habilis, or "handy man", found only in Africa, which used simple stone tools and lived between about 2.5 million and 1.6 million years ago.

"I'd have to say, if we'd found the Dmanisi fossils 40 years ago, they would have been classified as Homo habilis because of the small brain size. Their brow ridges are not as thick as classical Homo erectus, but their teeth are more H. erectus like," Professor Lordkipanidze said. "All these finds show that the ancestors of these people were much more primitive than we thought. I don't think that we were so lucky as to have found the first travellers out of Africa. Georgia is the cradle of the first Europeans, I would say," he told the meeting.

"What we learnt from the Dmanisi fossils is that they are quite small – between 1.44 metres to 1.5 metres tall. What is interesting is that their lower limbs, their tibia bones, are very human-like so it seems they were very good runners," he said.

He added: "In regards to the question of which came first, enlarged brain size or bipedalism, maybe indirectly this information calls us to think that body anatomy was more important than brain size. While the Dmanisi people were almost modern in their body proportions, and were highly efficient walkers and runners, their arms moved in a different way, and their brains were tiny compared to ours.

"Nevertheless, they were sophisticated tool makers with high social and cognitive skills," he told the science festival, which is run by the British Science[..]ociation.

One of the five skulls is of a person who lost all his or her teeth during their lifetime but had still survived for many years despite being completely toothless. This suggests some kind of social organisation based on mutual care, Professor Lordkipanidze said.

havent they found erectus skulls as far as china too?

and i just skimmed it, is the[..]ertion/suggestion that humans evolved from errectus in europe or that this was a separate population that came out of africa,but came extinct?

jesus was the son of god

god was the son of bob....

bob was the son of permetheus

** wondering why this thread isnt 4-5 pages long by this point. They are claiming to have found a skull that is dated back before the skull that was found in South Africa.... doesnt that put a wrench in the whole afrocentrist philosophy?? Maybe the first people werent black, maybe civilization started in europe and migrated south? maybe civilization started east,west,north, south all in the same period.... good to know that there is some evidence out there that disproves most of the afrocentrist bull!! posted on this site.

^^what?

and so ur glad a thread isnt being contaminated by such ideology then why feel the need 2 bring it up.

add something of substance to the debate or dont add anything at all [pic]

Link?

[pic]

same thing could be said about your post.. I dont see any substance in what you posted.. I was merely making an observation... maybe this thread should be moved to the KC and merged with one of Bizo's threads

it leads one to believe that if they are finding humanoid skeletons all over the planet dating back that long ago, then we must have had many civilizations inhabiting our planet before us!

or

aliens are having fun and just traveling back in time and droppin !! all over the planet to fuk with us

Pfft my African History teacher (who was a white guy of course) said that humanity did begin in Africa and I believe the guy with a Ph.D.

Not saying he's wrong but your logic is seriously flawed. Why take anybody's word for it, do you have a brain to think for yourself?

Aliens got some sense of humor huh?!?

Key Word: Lucy

Which was found in Ethopia.

At least one million years before this one here in Europe.