Origin of Our Species Pushed Back 100,000 Years!

[Sunstone]

Fossils discovered in Morocco are the oldest known remains of Homo sapiens, scientists reported on Wednesday.

Dating back roughly 300,000 years, the bones indicate that mankind evolved earlier than had been known, experts say, and open a new window on our origins.

The fossils also show that early Homo sapiens had faces much like our own, although their brains differed in fundamental ways.

Until now, the oldest fossils of our species, found in Ethiopia, dated back just 195,000 years. The new fossils suggest our species evolved across Africa.

“We did not evolve from a single cradle of mankind somewhere in East Africa,” said Phillipp Gunz, a paleoanthropologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Liepzig, Germany, and a co-author of two new studies on the fossils, published in the journal Nature.

Today, the closest living relatives to Homo sapiens are chimpanzees and bonobos, with whom we share a common ancestor that lived over six million years ago.

[Source]

Please discuss!

 

[Sunstone]

I would like to know what these "fundamental differences" are?

Click on the link. The article goes into the differences briefly, but not a lot is known yet. Their brain case was long and low. Ours is round. The shape of their brain was thus different than ours most likely.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

But where are the transitional fossils?

 

[Altfish]

Isn't it exciting

 

[DavidFirth]

So you mean to tell me that scientists have actually changed their theories around once again? Really?

 

[Sunstone]

So you mean to tell me that scientists have actually changed their theories around once again? Really?

Their views have changed in light of new evidence, just as you would expect of rational people, and quite unlike many religious fanatics, who never change their views no matter what evidence comes to light against those views.

 

[Altfish]

So you mean to tell me that scientists have actually changed their theories around once again? Really?

Of course, scientists base their hypothesis on EVIDENCE. This is new evidence so things changed.

 

[DavidFirth]

Of course, scientists base their hypothesis on EVIDENCE. This is new evidence so things changed.

Hmm... well, if it is always going to change, it doesn't make much sense to put one's faith in it in the first place. Whatev. Knock yourself out.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

So you mean to tell me that scientists have actually changed their theories around once again? Really?

What good is science when they never just decide on what the answer is?

 

[Daemon Sophic]

What good is science when they never just decide on what the answer is?

Yeah! Rock beats scissors, scissors beat paper....therefore rock is best.
We're done here.

 

[David1967]

[Source]

Please discuss!

Love this stuff! Read last week that new finds in north America shows man here long before what was previously thought. New Evidence Puts Man In North America 50,000 Years Ago

 

[Jose Fly]

So you mean to tell me that scientists have actually changed their theories around once again? Really?

No. Evolutionary theory remains the same. The only thing that's changed is the estimated time for when the first H. sapiens appeared.

 

[sun rise]

That's an interesting story and a bit of a surprising one.

What good is science when they never just decide on what the answer is?

Yeah - just give up everything related to science and you'll be much better off

 

[YmirGF]

[Source]

Please discuss!

But.... but.... but... GODDIDIT!!!
*stamps feet*
*holds breath*
*Starts turning blue....*

And... and.... what about Adam and Eve? Huh?

 

[sun rise]

But.... but.... but... GODDIDIT!!!
*stamps feet*
*holds breath*
*Starts turning blue....*

And... and.... what about Adam and Eve? Huh?

God's been around a long, long time and Adam/Eve had funny shaped craniums.

 

[George-ananda]

Please discuss!

I'm beginning to less and lessunderstand what we mean by 'Our Species'.
I always thought species division was based on ability to reproduce and produce viable offspring. But on the other hand, Neanderthals, Denisovans (and whatever may be found next) apparently interbred with our species and produced viable offspring.

I wish the article provided a family tree diagram to better understand how this new Moroccan find and everything else comes together in current theory.

 

[DavidFirth]

What good is science when they never just decide on what the answer is?

Science isn't the problem. Scientists, on the other hand, speculate and speculate. It sells books, so why not?

 

[DavidFirth]

What good is science when they never just decide on what the answer is?

And yes, they do already decide on what the answer is. Where have you been?

 

[DavidFirth]

But where are the transitional fossils?

Buried deep within people's minds. Keep digging, you'll find all of them eventually.

 

[DavidFirth]

That's an interesting story and a bit of a surprising one.

Yeah - just give up everything related to science and you'll be much better off

That's quite a photograph. I'm sure glad the photographer was able to travel back in time and take it!