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The ancient tools and bones unearthed in China suggest that our first hominid ancestors left Africa and arrived in Asia 270,000 years earlier than previously believed.L'l. badysis of 80 newly discovered artifacts reveals that our earliest ancestors colonized East Asia more than two million
Until now, the remains of skeletons and tools found in Dmanisi, in Georgia – 1.85 million years ago – was considered the first evidence of humanity outside of Africa.
The tools were discovered in Shangchen in the south. Chinese Loess Plateau by a team led by Professor Zhaoyu Zhu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
The 80 artifacts include a notch, scrapers, pebbles, hammer stones and pointed pieces. All show signs of use – with flake stone intentionally.
Most of the newly found tools were made of quartzite and quartz that probably came from the foothills of the Qinling Mountains between three and six miles (five to ten south of the site, as well as the water courses that s & # 39;
Fragments of animal bones aged 2.12 million years were also found
. it is now necessary to reconsider the moment when the first humans left Africa. "
The Chinese Loess Plateau covers an area of 105,000 square miles (270,000 km 2).
2.6 million years ago, between 300 and 1000 feet (100 and 300 meters) of windblown dust – known as loess – was deposited in the area.
The 80 artifacts of stone were found mainly in 11 different layers of fossil soils, a warm climate and Other elements were found in six layers of loess that developed in cooler, drier conditions.
These 17 different layers of loess and fossils were formed during a period extending over nearly a million years. The Loess Plateau in very different climatic conditions between 1.2 and 2.12 million years
The loess containing these stone tools has been dated by linking the magnetic properties of the layers to known and dated changes of the Earth's magnetic field
. The first testimonies of hominans outside Africa come from Dmanisi, Georgia
In 2009, archaeologists uncovered six ancient skeletons dating back 1.8 million years in the Georgia hills.
At the time, the Georgian bones that included incredibly well preserved skulls and teeth, were considered the first humans ever found outside of Africa.
The remains belong to a race of early humans with short s They were found alongside stone tools, remains of animals and plants – suggesting that they were hunting and dismembered from the meat.
The new ancestors, discovered in Dmanisi, were about 60 inches (150cm). Professor David Lordkipanidze, Director General of the Georgian National Museum, said at the time: "Before our discoveries, the prevailing view was that humans had come out of the shadows. We also believed that they already had sophisticated stone tools, and that their body anatomy was very advanced in terms of brain capacity and limb proportions
. He said that Africa was still the undisputed cradle of humanity, but added: "Georgia may have been the cradle of early Europeans."
Archaeologists believe that the first real humans – a breed of squat pe ople called Homo habilis – evolved in Africa 2.3 million years ago.
They were followed by a larger athletic species called Homo erectus who emigrated from Africa to colonize Europe and Asia
. the common ancestor for all modern humans – Homo sapiens – and their extinct relatives including Homo habilis, Homo erectus and Neanderthals.
A partially complete lower jaw, found in the Afar region of Ethiopia, is considered to belong to a new species
Scientists believe that the fossil, known as LD 350-1, is humanly recognizable but also has more primitive features that suggest that it is older than other fossils belonging to the Homo family. 19659002] Researchers who digitally reconstructed the jaws of other ancient human ancestors say that the fossil corresponds to what they would expect from this common ancestor.
The discovery, unearthed in Afar's Ledi-Geraru rea, put a new date on the emergence of the first 'human'. from our ancestors more apes.
Speaking at the time, Dr. Brian Villmoare, of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who helped direct the fossil hunters, said, "Despite extensive research, the Fossils of the Homo lineage, more than two million years ago, are very rare.
"For an overview The first phase of the evolution of our lineage is particularly exciting. LD 350-1 reveals that many of the anatomical models that we see in Homo 2 million years ago were established much earlier in the evolution of the genre.
Il 2.8 million years ago we see relatively evolved homo traits in combination with other much more primitive anatomical features.
The full results of the new study were published in the journal Nature.
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