Oldest human remains ever found unearthed in Israel (5999 years old....)

[The Straight Story]

Oldest human remains ever found unearthed in Israel

JERUSALEM — Israeli archaeologists say they may have found the earliest evidence yet for the existence of modern humans.

A Tel Aviv University team excavating a cave in central Israel said Monday they found teeth that were about 400,000 years old. The earliest Homo sapiens remains found until now are half that old, and were discovered in Ethiopia.

Archaeologist Avi Gopher said Monday further research is needed to solidify the claim, which is detailed in the December edition of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. If the claim is borne out, the discovery would change "the whole picture of evolution," he said.

Accepted scientific theory is that Homo sapiens originated in Africa and migrated outward about 80,000 years ago.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40820248/ns/technology_and_science-science/?ocid=twitter

[Richardo]

1. That would have made a great Onion headline....

:rofl:

[Celtic Raven]

2. That's what I was expecting

when I clicked on the OP.

:evilgrin:

[Vickers]

3. "Gopher" is an AWESOME name for an archaeologist. n/t

[Boudica the Lyoness]

4. Archaeologist Avi Gopher and his assistant, Bert Digger...

...lol.
Seriously, I love these guys and the work they do.

[Harry Hope]

6. And their special assistant Ronnie Mole

[Boudica the Lyoness]

7. lol

:)

[alfredo]

5. Was he/she Israeli or Palestinian?

[Historic NY]

8. Who makes these stories up....Dr. Gopher.

[eShirl]

9. actually the oldest human remains found so far were 2.33 million years old

"Paleoanthropologists surveying a barren hillside in the Afar region of northern Ethiopia have discovered a 2.33 million-year-old upper jaw belonging to the genus Homo, pushing back the human timeline by more than 400,000 years. Within the same strata, researchers found more than 20 chert flakes and several "chopping tools," river cobbles chipped on two faces--the oldest stone tools ever found in association with hominid remains."
http://www.archaeology.org/9701/newsbriefs/homo.html

[csziggy]

13. The article in the OP is talking about Homo sapiens or a close relative

Not just genus Homo in your link. The Afar region fossils were Homo habilis and Homo rudolfensis, older human ancestors than Homo sapiens or Neanderthals that are discussed in the link in the OP.

[eShirl]

14. I'm pointing out that the article's title, "Oldest human remains ever found unearthed in Israel," is

inaccurate.

[csziggy]

15. A lot of people do not categorize anything earlier than H. sapiens as human

So I don't have a problem with the wording in the title. It just depends on where the cut off point for defining "human". Heck, many don't categorize Neanderthals as "human" even though there is now evidence that modern humans and Neanderthals interbred and that many humans today carry Neanderthal genes. meaning that Neanderthals are just a branch of H. sapeins.

[eShirl]

17. And some don't even categorize many of their fellow homo sapiens as human.

[csziggy]

19. True! n/t

[Riftaxe]

10. I don't see 5999 in the article, only 400k years?

[eShirl]

11. I think that was a joke about God supposedly creating Earth 6,000 years ago.

[malaise]

12. Maybe the first circumcised one

:shrug:

[Kennah]

16. Do I want to know ...

... how teeth revealed this?

[louis-t]

18. Sure. the fillings were made of stone instead of

lead. Owwww, sometimes I crack me up. :rofl:

[jimlup]

20. If true this causes some problems for the mitochondrial DNA evidence

Which I think puts us through a bottle neck about 180,000 years ago. Hum?