The skull would be the first to be discovered outside of Africa that was dated between 50,000 and 60,000 years old, and it could provide clues on modern humans' migration from Africa to Europe.
Scientists have uncovered a skull fragment in Israel that is dated at 55,000 years old, and it may come from a relative of the first humans to colonize Europe.
The skull provides some insight into how modern humans migrated out of Africa and when they first interbred with Neanderthals, according to a Christian Science Monitor report.
Scientists believe modern humans first came about between 150,000 and 200,000 years ago in Africa, and then there was an exodus out of the continent about 60,000 to 70,000 years ago. They don’t know much beyond that because of a lack of fossils, making the find all the more important.
The partial skull would have been from about the time that humans first left Africa, and the skull’s anatomy may provide some clues on what the first Europeans were like, according to the report.
Scientists first learned of the fossil in 2008 when a bulldozer working on a construction project in Manot in northern Israel stumbled upon a cave, which had been sealed by a rockfall about 30,000 years ago.
The rockfall seal made the cave almost like a time capsule, keeping its contents in almost perfect condition.
The skullcap was called Manot 1 and includes the top part of the skull of a modern human adult. The brain that it housed would have been fairly small: just 1,100 milliliters, compared to the 1,400 milliliters of a modern human brain, according to the report.
Manot 1 is the first modern human that can be confidently dated to between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago outside of Africa, according to the team that is studying the skull at Tel Aviv University in Israel.
The shape of the skullcap resembles those of African and ancient European skulls, but it differs from modern humans, which suggests that the Manot people could be related to the first humans to colonize Europe. It also provides evidence that modern humans lived alongside Neanderthals in the area near where they interbred.
Researchers will hunt for more fossils in the Manot Cave this summer, and they expect to find more items of interest.
The findings were published in the journal Nature.
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