Hominin Bone in Israel Dated to 1.5 Million Years Ago

Archaeologists have discovered the earliest evidence of ancient man in Israel, a 1.5 million-year-old vertebra found at the prehistoric site of ‘Ubeidiya in the Jordan Valley. The international team of researchers say this adds growing ammunition to the theory that human dispersal out of Africa happened in successive waves, rather than a single event. 

The research is published today in Scientific Reports.

‘Ubeidiya is one of the oldest archaeological sites outside of Africa, with a rich record of finds including stone artefacts and the bones of extinct creatures such as sabre-toothed tigers and mammoths. 

The site has been under investigation since the 1960s, but this latest work, funded by a grant from the US National Science Foundation, sought to use new dating methods to refine age estimates for these ancient human traces and to better understand the ecology and climate of the site as it was millions of years ago.

Who did the ‘Ubeidiya vertebra belong to? 

The vertebra the team analysed likely belonged to a young male, 6-12 years old, who was particularly tall for his age.

“Had this child reached adulthood, he would have reached a height of over 180cm,” says Ella Been, a palaeoanthropologist at Ono Academic College, Israel, and an expert in spinal evolution. 

Been says that makes the ‘Ubeidiya boy similar in size to other particularly tall ancient hominins found in East Africa, and this differs markedly from some of the other oldest human remains outside Africa, like the relatively diminutive people who lived at Dmanisi in Georgia some 1.8 million years ago.

What does this find tell us about our human story?

Human evolution research may seem to be an endless conveyor belt of new “oldest” and “earliest”, but that’s kind of the point: the more small pieces of the human puzzle we uncover, the more we learn about the epic story of our evolution and dispersal around the globe.

The prevailing scientific wisdom is that our ancestors evolved in Africa some six million years ago, and began to spread around the globe roughly two million years ago, according to the Out of Africa theory. But the routes are taken, the timing of the dispersal, and whether this dispersal was one singular event or a series of events, are all still up for debate.

“Due to the difference in size and shape of the vertebra from ‘Ubeidiya and those found in the Republic of Georgia, we now have unambiguous evidence of the presence of [at least] two distinct dispersal waves,” says study lead-author Alon Barash, of the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine at Bar-Ilan University, Israel.

And the authors say that the humans who lived at Dmanisi and ‘Ubeidiya were technologically different, producing markedly different stone tools: the Dmanisi hominins were making Oldowan-style stone tools (some of the earliest stone-tool types found in Africa), while the ‘Ubeidiya hominins were making stone tools like those found in Acheulean assemblages, involving more complex types of tools.

The researchers think their discovery cements the evidence that successive waves of differently evolved hominins moved out of Africa at different times, and in response to different pressures.

“One of the main questions regarding the human dispersal from Africa were the ecological conditions that may have facilitated the dispersal,” explains Miriam Belmaker, study co-author from the University of Tulsa, US. “Previous theories debated whether early humans preferred an African savanna or new, more humid woodland habitat. 

“Our new finding of different human species in Dmanisi and ‘Ubeidiya is consistent with our finding that climates also differed between the two sites,” Belmaker says. According to the study findings, ‘Ubeidiya is more humid and compatible with a Mediterranean climate, while Dmanisi is drier with savannah habitat. 

This, according to Belmaker and team, is further evidence that we’re dealing with two different hominins.

“It seems, then, that in the period known as the Early Pleistocene, we can identify at least two species of early humans outside of Africa,” says Barash. “Each wave of migration was that of different kinds of humans – in appearance and form, technique and tradition of manufacturing stone tools, and ecological niche in which they lived.”

Archaeologists discover new mystery human species in Israel

Researchers working in Israel have identified a previously unknown type of ancient human that lived alongside our species more than 100,000 years ago. They believe the remains uncovered near the city of Ramla represent one of the “last survivors” of a very ancient human group.

The finds consist of a partial skull and jaw from an individual who lived between 140,000 and 120,000 years ago.

Details have been published in the journal Science.

The team members think the individual descended from an earlier species that may have spread out of the region hundreds of thousands of years ago and given rise to Neanderthals in Europe and their equivalents in Asia.

The scientists have named the newly discovered lineage the “Nesher Ramla Homo type”.

Dr Hila May of Tel Aviv University said the discovery reshaped the story of human evolution, particularly our picture of how the Neanderthals emerged. The general picture of Neanderthal evolution had in the past been linked closely with Europe.

“It all started in Israel. We suggest that a local group was the source population,” she told BBC News. “During interglacial periods, waves of humans, the Nesher Ramla people, migrated from the Middle East to Europe.”

The team thinks that early members of the Nesher Ramla Homo group were already present in the Near East some 400,000 years ago. The researchers have noticed resemblances between the new finds and ancient “pre-Neanderthal” groups in Europe.

“This is the first time we could connect the dots between different specimens found in the Levant,” said Dr Rachel Sarig, also from Tel Aviv University.

“There are several human fossils from the caves of Qesem, Zuttiyeh and Tabun that date back to that time that we could not attribute to any specific known group of humans. But comparing their shapes to those of the newly uncovered specimen from Nesher Ramla justify their inclusion within the [new human] group.”

Dr May suggests that these humans were the ancestors of Neanderthals.

“The European Neanderthal actually began here in the Levant and migrated to Europe, while interbreeding with other groups of humans.”

Others travelled east to India and China, said Prof Israel Hershkovitz, suggesting a connection between East Asian archaic humans and Neanderthals in Europe.

“Some fossils found in East Asia manifest Neanderthal-like features as the Nesher Ramla do,” he said.

The researchers base their claims on similarities in features between the Israeli fossils and those found in Europe and Asia, though their assertion is controversial. Prof Chris Stringer, from the Natural History Museum in London, UK, has recently been assessing Chinese human remains.

“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,” he said.

“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.”

The Nesher Ramla remains themselves were found in what used to be a sinkhole, located in an area frequented by prehistoric humans. This may have been an area where they hunted for wild cattle, horses and deer, as indicated by thousands of stone tools and bones of hunted animals.

According to an analysis by Dr Yossi Zaidner at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, these tools were constructed in the same manner that modern humans of the time also made their implements.

“It was a surprise that archaic humans were using tools normally associated with Homo sapiens. This suggests that there were interactions between the two groups,” Dr Zaidner said.

“We think that it is only possible to learn how to make the tools through visual or oral learning. Our findings suggest that human evolution is far from simple and involved many dispersals, contacts and interactions between different species of human.”

2000-year-old ‘lost’ street built by Pontius Pilate uncovered in Jerusalem

Archaeologists have unearthed part of a 2,000-year-old ‘lost’ street built by Pontius Pilate that likely served as a route for pilgrimage within the ancient city. The street had been buried when the Roman ransacked the city in 70 AD.

The ancient walkway linking the Temple Mount with the Pool of Siloam was first discovered in 1894 by British archaeologists in Jerusalem’s ‘City of David’.

Researchers have now found more than 100 coins beneath the paving stones that date the street to around the year 31 AD. The finding provides strong evidence that the street was commissioned by Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of the province Judaea from 23–36 AD.

Pilate is best known as the biblical official who presided over the trial of Jesus and ordered his crucifixion.

The 722 feet (220 metres) -long section of the road was unearthed by researchers from the Israel Antiquities Authority and Tel Aviv University after six years of extensive archaeological excavations.

The walkway ascends from the Pool of Siloam in the south to the Temple Mount — both sites of significance to the followers of Judaism and Christianity. The Temple Mount, located within the Old City of Jerusalem, has been venerated as a holy site for thousands of years. 

According to the bible, the Pool of Siloam was the location where Jesus performed the miracle of healing the man born blind, at around the same as the street was being constructed. During the dig, the team uncovered more than 100 coins trapped beneath the street’s paving stones.

The latest coins were dated between 17–31 AD — firm evidence that work began and was completed during the time that Pilate governed Judea.

‘Dating using coins is very exact,’ said paper author and archaeologist Donald Ariel, of the Israel Antiquities Authority.’

‘As some coins have the year in which they were minted on them, what that means is that if a coin with the date on it is found beneath the street, the street had to be built in the same year or after that coin had been minted, so any time after.’

‘However, our study goes further, because statistically, coins minted some 10 years later are the most common coins in Jerusalem.’

‘So not having them beneath the street means the street was built before their appearance, in other words only in the time of Pilate.’

The street — which was 0.37 miles (600 metres) -long and around 26 feet (eight metres) wide — was paved with the large stone slabs that were customary across the Roman Empire. The researchers estimate that some 10,000 tons of quarried limestone rock would have been used in its construction — a feat requiring considerable skill.

The opulent and grand nature of the street, coupled with the fact that it links two of the most important spots in Jerusalem — Temple Mount and the Pool of Siloam — both provide strong evidence that the street acted as a route for pilgrims.

‘If this was a simple walkway connecting point A to point B, there would be no need to build such a grand street,’ said paper author and Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist Joe Uziel.

‘At its minimum, it is eight metres wide. This, coupled with its finely carved stone and ornate “furnishings” like a stepped podium along the street, all indicate that this was a special street.’

‘Part of it may have been to appease the residents of Jerusalem,’ added paper co-author and archaeologist Nahshon Szanton.

‘Part of it may have been about the way Jerusalem would fit in the Roman world, and part of it may have been to aggrandise [Pontius Pilate’s] name through major building projects.’

The paving stones of the street were found hidden beneath layers of rubble, which researchers believe was generated when Romans captured and destroyed the city in 70 AD.

This rubble contained weapons — including arrowheads and stones for slings — along with the remains of burnt trees and collapsed stones from the buildings along its edge. The researchers say that it is possible that Pilate had the street built in order to help reduce tensions with the Jewish population.

‘We can’t know for sure, although all these reasons do find support in the historical documents,’ added Dr Ariel. The full findings of the study were published in Tel Aviv: Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University.