The Neanderthal In Us

"It all started in Israel. We suggest that a local group was the source population."

"During interglacial periods, waves of humans, the Nesher Ramla people, migrated from the Middle East to Europe."

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

Dr Hila May, Tel Aviv University, Israel

 

"This is the first time we could connect the dots between different specimens found in the Levant."

"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 Rachel Sarig, Tel Aviv University  

"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."   

"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."

Dr Yossi Zaidner, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The human finds were uncovered during the excavation of a sinkhole. Thousands of stone tools and animal remains were also found  Photo: Yossi Zaidner

"The discovery of a new type of Homo is of great scientific importance."

"It enables us to make new sense of previously found human fossils, add another piece to the puzzle of human evolution, and understand the migrations of humans in the old world."

"Some fossils found in East Asia manifest Neanderthal-like features as the Nesher Ramla do."

Israel Hershkovitz, Tel Aviv University

Scientists in Israel feel they have succeeded in unearthing a discovery of a hitherto-unknown early human. Pieces of fossilized bone discovered at a site in central Israel used by a cement plant were studied carefully and led to this conclusion. Fragments were those of a skull and a lower jaw with teeth, estimated to be roughly 130,000 years old. Should their conclusions prove to be correct, the potential of reimagining parts of the human family tree is on the horizon. 

The archaeological project was a joint venture between researchers from Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The new proto-human was named Nesher Ramla Homo, after the area  southeast of TelAviv where the remains were discovered. The species, it is speculated, may have lived alongside our own species, Homo sapiens for over 100,000 years and it is posible that interbreeding took place, according to the team's studies.

 

Hila May, a physical anthropologist at the Dan David Center and the Shmunis Institute of Tel Aviv University holds what scientists say is a piece of fossilized bone of a previously unknown kind of early human   Reuters

 

Distinguished with large teeth and chinless, these early humans may have been ancestors to Neanderthals. In making that suggestion the archaeological team is challenging the scientific given that distant evolutionary humans originated in Europe. While exploring the mining area of the Nesher cement plant not far from the city of Ramla, Dr.Yossi Zaidner of Hebrew University had discovered the fossils.

Follow-up excavation revealed the bones located roughly eight metres underground and with them were discovered stone tools, along with the skeletal remains of horses and deer. The Nesher Ramla type resembled pre-Neanderthal groups in Europe, according to the study authors whose work was published in the journal Science.

"This is what makes us suggest that this Nesher Ramla group is actually a large group that started very early in time and are the sources of the European Neanderthal", explained Hila May, physical anthropologist at the Dan David Center and the Shmunis Institute of Tel Aviv University.

Dr.May is convinced the Nesher Ramla might represent the mystery group responsible for Homo sapiens genes being present in earlier Neanderthal populations in Europe, long a puzzle to experts in the field. The skull of the species discovered is flat, the jaw bone is chinless and 3D shape analysis has ruled out any other known group related to it.

There was a match, however, with a small number of human fossils discovered elsewhere in Israel, dating back even earlier (400,000 years back in dim antiquity), and which anthropologists had been unable to place.

Tel Aviv University Professor Israel Hershkovitz, holds what scientists say are two pieces of fossilised bone of a previously unknown kind of early human discovered at the Nesher Ramla site in central Israel  Reuters