alienation news

Oldest human fossils discovered

DISCOVERED IN ETHIOPIA'S fossil-rich Afar region, the skulls have clearly modern features -- a prominent forehead, flattened face and reduced brow -- that contrast with older humans' projecting, heavy-browed skulls.
They're not quite completely modern, but they're well on their way. They're close enough to call Homo sapiens,' said Tim White, a University of California, Berkeley paleontologist who was co-leader of the international team that excavated and analyzed the skulls.
Previously, the earliest fossils of Homo sapiens found in Africa had been dated to about 130,000 to 100,000 years, although they were less complete and sometimes poorly dated, White said.