.2017 Jun 7;546(7657):293-296.

doi: 10.1038/nature22335.

The age of the hominin fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, and the origins of the Middle Stone Age

Daniel Richter^{1 2 3}, Rainer Grün^{4 5}, Renaud Joannes-Boyau^{4 6}, Teresa E Steele^{1 7}, Fethi Amani⁸, Mathieu Rué^{9 10}, Paul Fernandes^{9 11}, Jean-Paul Raynal^{1 11}, Denis Geraads^{1 12}, Abdelouahed Ben-Ncer⁸, Jean-Jacques Hublin^{1 13}, Shannon P McPherron¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig 04103, Germany.
² Institute of Ecology, Subject Area Landscape Change, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Scharnhorststrasse 1, 21335 Lüneburg, Germany.
³ Freiberg Instruments GmbH, Delfterstrasse 6, 09599 Freiberg, Germany.
⁴ Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia.
⁵ Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland 4111, Australia.
⁶ Southern Cross GeoScience, Southern Cross University, Military Road, Lismore, New South Wales 2480, Australia.
⁷ Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis California, USA.
⁸ Institut National des Sciences de L'Archéologie et du Patrimoine, Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, Hay Riad, Madinat Al Ifrane, Angle rues 5 et 7, BP 6828, Rabat, Morocco.
⁹ Paléotime, 6173 Rue Jean Séraphin Achard Picard, 38250 Villard-de-Lans, France.
¹⁰ Archéologie des Sociétés Méditerranéennes, (ASM, UMR 5140 CNRS), Université Paul-Valéry, Montpellier 3, MCC, Route de Mende, 34199 Montpellier cedex 5, France.
¹¹ De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel : Culture, Environnement, Anthropologie (PACEA, UMR 5199 CNRS), Université de Bordeaux, MCC, Bâtiment B18, Allée Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, CS 50023, 33615, Pessac, France.
¹² Centre de Recherches sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements (CR2P, UMR 7207 CNRS), Sorbonne Universités, MNHN, UPMC, CP 38, 8 Rue Buffon, 75231 Paris cedex 05 France.
¹³ Chaire Internationale de Paléoanthropologie, Collège de France, Paris, France.

PMID:28593967
DOI: 10.1038/nature22335

The age of the hominin fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, and the origins of the Middle Stone Age

Daniel Richter et al. Nature.2017.

.2017 Jun 7;546(7657):293-296.

doi: 10.1038/nature22335.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig 04103, Germany.
² Institute of Ecology, Subject Area Landscape Change, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Scharnhorststrasse 1, 21335 Lüneburg, Germany.
³ Freiberg Instruments GmbH, Delfterstrasse 6, 09599 Freiberg, Germany.
⁴ Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia.
⁵ Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland 4111, Australia.
⁶ Southern Cross GeoScience, Southern Cross University, Military Road, Lismore, New South Wales 2480, Australia.
⁷ Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis California, USA.
⁸ Institut National des Sciences de L'Archéologie et du Patrimoine, Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, Hay Riad, Madinat Al Ifrane, Angle rues 5 et 7, BP 6828, Rabat, Morocco.
⁹ Paléotime, 6173 Rue Jean Séraphin Achard Picard, 38250 Villard-de-Lans, France.
¹⁰ Archéologie des Sociétés Méditerranéennes, (ASM, UMR 5140 CNRS), Université Paul-Valéry, Montpellier 3, MCC, Route de Mende, 34199 Montpellier cedex 5, France.
¹¹ De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel : Culture, Environnement, Anthropologie (PACEA, UMR 5199 CNRS), Université de Bordeaux, MCC, Bâtiment B18, Allée Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, CS 50023, 33615, Pessac, France.
¹² Centre de Recherches sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements (CR2P, UMR 7207 CNRS), Sorbonne Universités, MNHN, UPMC, CP 38, 8 Rue Buffon, 75231 Paris cedex 05 France.
¹³ Chaire Internationale de Paléoanthropologie, Collège de France, Paris, France.

PMID:28593967
DOI: 10.1038/nature22335

Abstract

The timing and location of the emergence of our species and of associated behavioural changes are crucial for our understanding of human evolution. The earliest fossil attributed to a modern form of Homo sapiens comes from eastern Africa and is approximately 195 thousand years old, therefore the emergence of modern human biology is commonly placed at around 200 thousand years ago. The earliest Middle Stone Age assemblages come from eastern and southern Africa but date much earlier. Here we report the ages, determined by thermoluminescence dating, of fire-heated flint artefacts obtained from new excavations at the Middle Stone Age site of Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, which are directly associated with newly discovered remains of H. sapiens. A weighted average age places these Middle Stone Age artefacts and fossils at 315 ± 34 thousand years ago. Support is obtained through the recalculated uranium series with electron spin resonance date of 286 ± 32 thousand years ago for a tooth from the Irhoud 3 hominin mandible. These ages are also consistent with the faunal and microfaunal assemblages and almost double the previous age estimates for the lower part of the deposits. The north African site of Jebel Irhoud contains one of the earliest directly dated Middle Stone Age assemblages, and its associated human remains are the oldest reported for H. sapiens. The emergence of our species and of the Middle Stone Age appear to be close in time, and these data suggest a larger scale, potentially pan-African, origin for both.

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Comment in

Palaeoanthropology: On the origin of our species.
Stringer C, Galway-Witham J.Stringer C, et al.Nature. 2017 Jun 7;546(7657):212-214. doi: 10.1038/546212a.Nature. 2017.PMID:28593955No abstract available.
Evolution: Origin(s) of Modern Humans.
Wood B.Wood B.Curr Biol. 2017 Aug 7;27(15):R767-R769. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.06.052.Curr Biol. 2017.PMID:28787610

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1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 May 11;107 Suppl 2:8931-8 - PubMed

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The age of the hominin fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, and the origins of the Middle Stone Age

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The age of the hominin fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, and the origins of the Middle Stone Age

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