Astonishing discovery: Archaeologists have unearthed six ancient skeletons dating back 1.8 million years in the hills of Georgia
By David Derbyshire
9th September 2009
For generations, scientists have believed Africa was the cradle of mankind.
Now a stunning archaeological discovery suggests our primitive ancestors left Africa to explore the world around 800,000 years earlier than was previously thought before returning to their home continent.
It was there - hundreds of thousands of years later - that they evolved into modern humans and embarked on a second mass migration, researchers say.
The Georgian bones - which include incredibly well preserved skulls and teeth - are the earliest humans ever found outside Africa. The remains belong to a race of short early humans with small primitive brains who walked and ran like modern people. They were found alongside stone tools, animal remains and plants - suggesting that they hunted and butchered meat. Archaeologists now believe that our ancestors left for Europe at least 1.8million years ago, before returning to Africa and developing into Homo Sapiens
For generations, scientists have believed Africa was the cradle of mankind.
Now a stunning archaeological discovery suggests our primitive ancestors left Africa to explore the world around 800,000 years earlier than was previously thought before returning to their home continent.
It was there - hundreds of thousands of years later - that they evolved into modern humans and embarked on a second mass migration, researchers say.
The Georgian bones - which include incredibly well preserved skulls and teeth - are the earliest humans ever found outside Africa. The remains belong to a race of short early humans with small primitive brains who walked and ran like modern people. They were found alongside stone tools, animal remains and plants - suggesting that they hunted and butchered meat. Archaeologists now believe that our ancestors left for Europe at least 1.8million years ago, before returning to Africa and developing into Homo Sapiens
Prof David Lordkipanidze, the direct of the Georgian National Museum, said: 'Before our findings, the prevailing view was that humans came out of Africa almost 1million years ago, that they already had sophisticated stone tools, and that their body anatomy was quite advanced in terms of brain capacity and limb proportions. But what we are finding is quite different' He said Africa was still the unchallenged cradle of mankind. But he added: 'Georgia may have been the cradle of the first Europeans.'
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