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EVOLUTION

Fossil Reanalysis Pushes Back

Origin of Homo sapiens

February 17, 2005

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 MICHAEL DAY

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A new analysis of human remains first discovered in 1967 suggests that they are
in fact much older than previously believed. The results, published today in the
journal Nature, push back the emergence of our species by nearly 35,000 years.
Ian McDougall of the Australian National University in Canberra and
his colleagues worked with two well-known fossil finds known as Omo
I and Omo II, which were recovered from Ethiopia's Kibish Formation
by Richard Leakey. The remains include two partial skulls as well as
arm, leg, foot and pelvis bones for Omo I. "Anthropologists said they
looked very different in their evolutionary status," remarks study co-

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 author Frank Brown of the University of Utah. "Omo I appeared to be
essentially modern Homo sapiens and Omo II appeared to be more
primitive." At the time, the bones were dated to 130,000 years ago,
based on radioactive decay of uranium and thorium from oyster shells
found nearby. This time the scientists returned to the southern
Ethiopian site and identified the resting places of both individuals.
They also unearthed another part of a femur bone for Omo I that fits
with the original remains.

The researchers then analyzed the volcanic ash layers above and below
the river sediment that contained the fossils using argon dating. They
determined that the rock just below the fossils dated to 196,000 years
ago. Because the layers of the Kibish Formation formed quickly during
wet seasons that inundated the area with organic matter, the team
posits that the bones are only slightly younger than this underlying
layer. In addition, a layer of ash more than 150 feet above the burial
sites dates to 104,000 years old, putting a lower limit on their age.
Using other evidence, which drained from the Nile and the Omo rivers
onto the Mediterranean seafloor, the researchers attest that the Omo

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 fossils are most likely no younger than 190,000 years old.

Previously the oldest known traces of our species were fossils from
Herto, Ethiopia, that date to about 160,000 years ago. The older age of
the Omo remains is concordant with dates suggested by genetic studies
for the origin of our species, says study co-author John Fleagle of Stony
Brook University. He adds that "as modern human anatomy is
documented at earlier and earlier sites, it becomes evident that there
was a great time gap between the appearance of the modern skeleton
and 'modern' behavior."

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