Beni Mellal – The face of the oldest known human, whose remains were discovered in Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, has been reconstructed by scientists, revealing his appearance for the first time in 300,000 years.
According to the Mirror, the Jebel Irhoud remains pushed back the lineage of Homo sapiens by 100,000 years and proved that our ancestors outgrew the “cradle of mankind” in east Africa millennia earlier than previously thought, spreading across the continent.
Brazilian graphics expert Cicero Moraes completed the facial reconstruction using data provided by researchers at the Max Planck Institute. Moraes described the resulting face as “strong and serene.”
The process involved scanning the skull in 3D and using anatomical deformation techniques, as reported by the Mirror. The tomography of a modern human was adapted to fit the Jebel Irhoud skull, generating a compatible face. Further data from modern humans was used to predict the thickness of soft tissue and the projection of facial structures.
The Sun adds that Moraes chose to give the skeleton a male face because he found the skull to be more robust and masculine. The skull itself is a composite of various fossils, recreated into a coherent whole. According to the Max Planck Institute, the Jebel Irhoud remains present a “modern-looking face and teeth, and a large but more archaic-looking braincase.”
The Daily Mail also reports that the ancient skull proved Homo sapiens appeared 100,000 years earlier than previously thought and migrated out of Africa before prior evidence had suggested.
The donor skull used in the reconstruction was digitized and chosen because it appeared the closest to that of the ancient skull, allowing researchers to fill in the missing parts of the remains.
While the true gender of the individual is unknown due to the absence of pelvic bones, the skull was unearthed alongside stone tools and animal bones at Jebel Irhoud by researchers at the Max Planck Institute.
Previously, the oldest Homo sapiens fossils were known from the site of Omo Kibish in Ethiopia, dated to 195,000 years ago, leading most researchers to believe that all humans living today descended from a population that lived in East Africa around that time.
Professor Jean-Jacques Hublin, who led the study, stated, “We used to think that there was a cradle of mankind 200,000 years ago in east Africa, but our new data reveal that Homo sapiens spread across the entire African continent around 300,000 years ago. Long before the out-of-Africa dispersal of Homo sapiens, there was dispersal within Africa.”
The Jebel Irhoud site has been known since the 1960s for its human fossils, and the latest discovery brings the total number of remains to 22, including skulls, teeth, and long bones from at least five individuals – two adults and three children. The findings at Jebel Irhoud have significantly altered our understanding of human history and the origins of our species.
Read also: Study: Ancient Moroccan Hunter-Gatherers Relied Heavily on Plants
