Science Bulletins: Early Migration for Modern Humans

When did modern humans make their first appearance in Europe? A jawbone excavated in England and two molars found in southern Italy suggest that modern humans migrated northward thousands of years earlier than previously thought. These fossils were discovered and interpreted decades ago but recent analysis pushed back the age of the jawbone, while positively identifying the much-older molars as modern human. The latest Human Bulletin from the Museum's Science Bulletins program explains how this new data suggests a much longer period of interaction between humans and Neanderthals in northern Europe. Visitors to AMNH may view the video in the Hall of Human Origins until February 9, 2012.

Science Bulletins is a production of the National Center for Science Literacy, Education, and Technology (NCSLET), part of the Department of Education at the American Museum of Natural History. Find out more about Science Bulletins at http://www.amnh.org/sciencebulletins/.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• science
• history
• human
• migration
• northern europe
• neanderthal
• fossil
• jawbone
• teeth
• scibulletins

[rosskay]

@ancylotherius they actually took a small sample of sub sarahan africans in comparison to others. if they covered more of that vast area, im pretty sure they will find it there too. they already had a bias because that neaderthals came from europe.

[rosskay]

@squirreljester2 because they did not want to accept for a long time we were mixed with other hominids. the truth is, we mixed with hominids so much and for so long, that is actually how we became "one" homo sapian sapien. I actually predicted this roughly 12? years ago. A lot of folks think we we came out of africa as one species, but I predict we hybridized and came back to africa again before the final massive migration. maybe I should make a video about this prediction. people keep asking...

[truemaskedwabbit]

Interesting!!

[TheF86Sabre]

"Science good, religion bad." says Neanderthal spokesperson.

[ancylotherius]

@Surells

There is Neanderthal DNA in the genomes of all Eurasians, Amerindians, Melanesians, etc. The only groups lacking Neanderthal admixture are the sub-saharan Africans. So far, it does not appear that Europeans have more Neanderthal DNA than Asians and Amerindians and so forth, so the admixture is presumed to have occurred before Homo sapiens entered Europe, and rather somewhere in the Near East.

See Green et al., 2010 in Science for details.

[phoenician7]

Very interesting.  I wonder if they will conduct any dna testing on the tooth?

[squirreljester2]

Why the discrepancy in date ranges for the jawbone?

[etbadaboum]

It's a picture of Chabal (aka the Caveman) not of a Neanderthal! I protest!

[Surells]

Hmm, according to that migration chart modern humans never reached Scotland. That explains a lot. jk jk. Great vid, so strange to think there was another species of intelligent human. Though I'm sure I heard that there is Neanderthal DNA in modern Europeans, because of interbreeding.

[JabberCT]

Nice!