A team of scientists has reconstructed the oldest known Homo sapiens skull (they say) found in Morocco, which was missing a lower jaw when it was discovered in 2017.
The team digitally scanned the skull, layering it with soft tissue and skin to produce the face of a man described as "strong and calm".
Scientists claimed that the ancient skull may have proven that Homo sapiens appeared 100,000 years earlier than previously thought.
Brazilian graphics expert, Cicero Moraes, completed the process of reshaping the skull after obtaining data from researchers at the Max Planck Institute.
He said: “First, I scanned the skull with 3D technology, then I proceeded to draw an approximate shape of the face. This is where tomography of modern humans is used, and modified using a donated skull to become identical to the ancient skull “Jabal Irhoud” (the name of the discovered site). in it)".
The donated skull was also digitized and selected because it appeared closest to the ancient skull, allowing scientists to fill in missing parts of the ancient remains.
The team used additional data from modern humans to predict the thickness of soft tissue and the likely projection of the nose and other facial structures.
“The final aspect is to complete all this data,” Cicero said.
Previously, the oldest Homo sapiens fossils were identified at the Omo Kebesh site in Ethiopia, dating back to 195,000 years ago.
This has led most scientists to believe that all humans living today are descended from a population that lived in East Africa around that time.
Professor Jean-Jacques Hublin, who led the study, said: “We thought there was the cradle of humanity 200,000 years ago in East Africa, but our new data reveal that Homo sapiens spread across the entire African continent about 300,000 years ago.”
It is 100,000 years earlier than previously believed.
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