UNKNOWN HUMAN ANCESTOR WHO LIVED SOME 140,000 YEARS AGO, FOUND IN ISRAEL

The discoverers claim this ancient human might be the ancestor of Neanderthal. However, other scientists are doubting the claim. Also the discoverers think this newly found human might belong to the same group of humans which lived at the Qesem Cave site in the same region, between 400 - 200,000 years ago, and about whom previous research found evidence suggesting they were the first humans who used fire in a habitual and continuous way.

Surprising discovery in a sinkhole, at the Nesher Ramla archaeological site near the city of Ramla in central Israel. Archaeologists unearthed a partial skull and jaw in 2010, but only now figured out what they found.

They claim the Nesher Ramla humans may be the ancestors of Neanderthals, and might be the "last survivors" of an ancient human group which lived in what is now the country of Israel from about 420,000 to 120,000 years ago.

They detailed their findings in two studies in the June 25 issue of the journal Science. 1. ‘A Middle Pleistocene Homo from Nesher Ramla, Israel’, Hershkovitz I. et al. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/372/6549/1424; and: 2. ‘Middle Pleistocene Homo behavior and culture at 140,000 to 120,000 years ago and interactions with Homo sapiens’, Zaidner Y. et al, https://science.sciencemag.org/content/372/6549/1429

Together with human bones the researchers also found artifacts as well as large quantities of animal bones, including the remains of horses, deer and aurochs.

Stone tools included points that could be hafted onto shafts to form spears or arrows, about which the scientist said that this specific way of crafting was previously seen only among modern humans and Neanderthals [though this technique might have been used by Homo heidelbergsensis in southern Africa, 500,000 years ago. read, https://science.sciencemag.org/content/338/6109/942]

This "Nesher Ramla Homo type" is very unlike modern humans, possessing a completely different skull structure, no chin and very large teeth, the scientists said. The bones together reveal a combination of archaic and Neanderthal features, distinct from both early H. sapiens and later Neanderthals.

The authors suggest human fossils found at other Israeli sites, including the Lady of Tabun site, and at the Qesem and Zuttiyeh Caves, might also be part of this newly human population. The animal bones found at the site, might have been butchered, and eaten on-site, and indicate Nesher Ramla Homo hunted a range of species, including tortoise, gazelle, aurochs, boar and ostrich. They were also using fire to cook, as a campfire feature was uncovered, the same age as the fossils,

Note that previous studies of humans occupying Qesem Cave, between 420,000 and 200,000 years ago, found the first evidence for the habitual and continuous use of fire by humans, the repeated use of a central hearth, systematic flint and bone recycling, early blade production technologies, social hunting strategies and meat-sharing practices, and more, read: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317043838_Fire_for_a_Reason_Barbecue_at_Middle_Pleistocene_Qesem_Cave_Israel]

The new human species suggests that two different groups of humans lived together in the Middle East, the Nesher Ramla people, starting about 400,000 years ago, and ancient Homo sapiens who arrived there about 200,000 years ago.

They likely not only shared knowledge and tools but also interbred - fossils previously unearthed in Skhul and Qafzeh caves, both sites in northern Israel and dated 80,000 -120,000 years ago, may represent groups of intermixed modern-human and Nesher Ramla lineage, the scientists think.

While the Nesher Ramla bones share features with Neanderthals, especially in the teeth and jaws, but these humans had skulls more closely resembling those of more archaic human lineages, the researchers suggest the Nesher Ramla humans may be the ancestors of Neanderthals.

"Here, we say that maybe Neanderthals were not European - that maybe there's a strong component from the Near East within the Neanderthal population of Europe," Hershkovitz said. "Nesher Ramla may have been the core population from which Europe was recolonized by Neanderthals between glacial periods." Others travelled east to India and China, Hershkovitz also thinks, suggesting a connection between East Asian archaic humans and Neanderthals in Europe.

Prof Chris Stringer, who has recently been assessing Chinese human remains is sceptic.

He said: "Nesher Ramla is important in confirming yet further that different species co-existed alongside each other in the region at the time and now we have the same story in western Asia." "However, I think it's a jump too far at the moment to link some of the older Israeli fossils to Neanderthals. I'm also puzzled at suggestions of any special link between the Nesher Ramla material and fossils in China."

Read also: https://phys.org/news/2021-06-nesher-ramla-homo-fossil-discovery.html; and: https://theconversation.com/homo-who-a-new-mystery-human-species-has-been-discovered-in-israel-163084; also: https://www.livescience.com/unknown-human-ancestor-israel.html