A study published in Nature reported that a group of researchers discovered gods new hominid fossils dating back 773 thousand years in a cave near Casablanca (Morocco), remains that could belong to closest ancestor (among those known to date) of modern human beings – Sapiens, Neanderthals and Denisovans – and who lived when these three human groups had not yet distinguished themselves.
In particular, the research group found the remains (two mandibles partial and equipped with teeth e vertebrae) in the Grotte à Hominidés (Cave of the Hominids), i.e. in the Thomas Quarry.
The study, coordinated by Jean-Jacques Hublin of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology of the College of France e Abderrahim Mohib of the Moroccan National Institute of Archaeological and Heritage Sciences, also saw the participation of researchers fromUniversity of Milan and of theUniversity of Bologna.
In particular, the UNIMI researcher Serena Periniresponsible for the analysis that allowed the dating of the finds, told ANSA that the discovery of these fossils is exceptionalbecause the critical period in which the divergence between Sapiens, Neanderthals and Denisovans began (between 1 and 0.6 million years ago) has seen very little fossil evidence to date. According to what we know so far, in fact, the last common ancestor of the three lived between 765 thousand and 550 thousand years ago, but it is not known with certainty where he appeared. Some European finds, such as that ofHomo antecessor in Spain, have led to the hypothesis of a European origin, but the lack of contemporary African fossils has so far prevented the issue from being clarified.
But how do we know the remains are so ancient? We know this because the sediments in which the fossils are found retain the orientation of the Earth’s magnetic field at the time they were deposited. Thanks to the technique of magnetostratigraphic datingwhich uses the reversals of the Earth’s magnetic field as a “natural clock”, you can know when the sediments are deposited: in this case they date back to 773 thousand years ago.
The years are the same as those of the one previously mentioned Homo antecessor (some of its fossils have been dated to around 800 thousand years ago) but the morphological characteristics of the two hominids are different, leading to the hypothesis that a differentiation between the inhabitants of Europe and those of North Africa.
According to the authors of the study, it is not yet entirely certain that the Moroccan remains belong to the most recent ancestor of modern man, but in any case, there are “very close“. Anyway, the discovery strengthens the hypothesis of a African origin of our speciesrather than European.
