09/01/2026
773,000-Year-Old Fossils From Morocco Show Homo Sapiens Lineage Present in Africa
The mandible ThI-GH-1 from Thomas Quarry I in Morocco, dated to about 773,000 years ago. Credit: Jean-Jacques Hublin et al. / CC BY 4.0 A set of fossils from the Homo sapiens lineage found near Casablanca, Morocco, and dated to about 773,000 years ago, is giving researchers a rare look at a moment before major human family lines fully split. The remains include jawbones with teeth and several vertebrae from at least two adults and a very young child, all recovered from a cave site known as Grotte à Hominidés at Thomas Quarry I. The study, led by paleoanthropologist Jean-Jacques Hublin and published in Nature, argues that these early North African hominins sit close to the root of the...
