Fossils of mysterious ancient humans found in Israel – 06/24/2021 – Science

Fossils found in Israel show that there were still mysterious ancient humans in the Middle East 140,000 to 120,000 years ago, and that the first groups of our race had already arrived in the region.

If the data is confirmed by further findings, the explanatory scenarios Expansion Homo sapiens To the planet Its relationship with other members of the human race will become more complex than previously imagined.

With caution, the researchers responsible for the findings did not risk naming the fossils they found with a formal scientific name. In an article in this week’s issue of Science magazine, “Homo of Nesher Ramla ”. This refers to the fact that the ancient humans they discovered belonged to the same race H. Sabians They were found at the Nasir Ramla Archaeological Site in central Israel, not far from the West Bank.

A team led by Israel Hershkovitz of Tel Aviv University analyzed both the anatomy of the bones of hominins (a term for a group of humans today and their extinct close relatives) and the stone age technology they used and human remains. The animals they hunted. The big picture of their lifestyle is very reminiscent of what they knew about the old ones. Homo sapiens And its cousins, the Neanderthals, but the anatomical details of its bones do not match those of either group or the other hominins already known and baptized.

“A combination of features found Homo Unique of Nasher Ramla. Furthermore, the analysis of the shape of the skull and jaw puts them in an intermediate position The man standing And Neanderthals, ”explained Hershkovitz Leaf Via email.

You H. Erectus They left Africa and began migrating to other parts of the Old World 1.5 million years ago, long before the emergence of our race, while Neanderthals were contemporaries of modern anatomical humans and disappeared for good. 35,000 years only. The fact that the mysterious hominins of Israel stand in the middle between the two species, even living at a relatively late age, is a sign of the long-term persistence of these ancient forms in the Middle East.

For now, the Israeli team and their counterparts from other countries have only found peritoneal bones (approximately, part of the skull running from the top of the head to the back of the neck) and a jaw. The bones and teeth are strong, and the skull has a smooth, low curve compared to the skull. Homo sapiens, Its skull is very rounded.

The bones of animals found in the same place indicate that the ancient people of Nashar Ramla captured hunters, eagles, deer, ostriches and even turtles with different food.

For this, they used stone spear points called Levellois technique, in which a large stone, called a core, was carefully prepared by removing chips from all around it.

This is the same technique used by Neanderthals for a long time Homo sapiens (Who will only follow the most sophisticated stone tool production methods).

In fact, there is no difference between the leveling tools of the mysterious hominids and the tools made by our species in Israel, which would be an indication of the cultural interactions between researchers and groups. “The various types of hominins that lived 100,000 years ago are not very different from each other in terms of their cognitive and technological capabilities,” says Yossi Jaitner, a researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and co-author of the study.