World s oldest human species fossils found in Morocco

Rabat June 8 (IANS) A team of international scientists has found the world s oldest human species fossil near the southern Moroccan city of Youssoufia the Moroccan national Institute of Sciences of Archaeology and Heritage announced in a statement on Wednesday.

The institute said the remains of the Homo sapiens which were found in a remote village called Jbel Irhoud date back to over 300 000 years ago Xinhua reported.

The remains push back human species origins by 100 000 years and suggest humans didn t evolve only in East Africa it added.

According to Nature magazine the finds do not mean that Homo sapiens originated in North Africa. Instead they suggest that the species earliest members evolved all across the continent scientists say.

In the 1960s fossils dating back to the Middle Stone Age were discovered.

--IANS
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