Human fossils dating to about 773,000 years ago have been identified in a cave in Casablanca, with researchers saying the remains may come from an archaic population close to the deep ancestry of Homo sapiens and potentially near the lineage that later produced Neanderthals and Denisovans, according to a study published on Wednesday in Nature.
The fossils were excavated at Grotte à Hominidés at the Thomas I quarry site and include lower jawbones from two adults and a young child, along with teeth and other bone fragments, according to the research team.
One thigh bone carried bite marks consistent with scavenging or predation by a large carnivore, supporting the interpretation that the cave was often used as a predator den.
Scientists said the bones and teeth show a mix of primitive and more modern traits, and the most appropriate interpretation is an evolved form of Homo erectus, an archaic human species that emerged in Africa and later spread into Eurasia.
The age estimate is based on magnetostratigraphy, a technique that reads the magnetic signature recorded in sediments as Earth’s magnetic field reverses over time, an approach the researchers said was essential for placing the fossils on the human family timeline.
The find helps fill a gap in the African fossil record between roughly one million and 600,000 years ago, a period that remains poorly documented despite its importance for understanding how later human lineages emerged.
The researchers noted intriguing parallels with fossils from Gran Dolina in Spain, where remains dated to a similar period have been linked to Homo antecessor, raising the possibility of intermittent connections across the Strait of Gibraltar.
Morocco has already been central to debates on human origins after Jebel Irhoud yielded the oldest widely accepted Homo sapiens fossils, dated to about 300,000 years, pushing the species’ timeline deeper into Africa.
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