- According to a new study published in journal Nature, two fossilized human crania (Apidima 1 and Apidima 2) from Apidima Cave, southern Greece, were discovered in the late 1970s but have remained enigmatic owing to their incomplete nature, taphonomic distortion and lack of archaeological context and chronology.
- As per researchers, the fossilized skull belonged to an individual who lived about 210,000 years ago. If it is confirmed, it would be earliest example of Homo sapiens discovered outside the African continent.
- The date also precedes by a whopping 160,000 years the age of any Homo sapiens fossil previously found in Europe.
- Earlier, scientists assumed the skulls were of the same age because they were found together. But after using laboratory techniques that looked at the radioactive decay of trace amounts of uranium in the specimens, researchers concluded that the individuals came from different eras.
- The tests indicated that Apidima 1 is about 210,000 years old and Apidima 2 about 170,000 years old.
- Apidima 2, the younger skull, looks clearly Neanderthal whreas the older skull, Apidima 1, does not look as if it belonged to a Neanderthal, it looks more like an early Homo sapiens.
