University of Michigan researcher says fossil shatters previous theories about human migration

Where we come from and where we’re going. One University of Michigan researcher thinks he knows a little bit more about the answer to the former question.

 

Excerpt:

 

Hidden underneath layers of sediment in a cave in northern Spain was an unassuming but breakthrough scientific find: the jawbone of the oldest-known human ancestor in Europe.

 

The fossil, dated at approximately 1.2 million years old, shatters scientists’ previous theories about human migration to Europe, said University of Michigan researcher Josep Pares, who was a member of the team that found the jawbone last summer.

 

“We totally confirmed that human occupation in Europe was much earlier than previously thought. … I think that the present theories need to be reconsidered, honestly,” said Pares, who left May 2 to return to the Spanish work site for three months.

 

Read the rest of the story here.