Earliest Homo Sapiens to Ever Live

By Bailey

If you thought Lucy was the oldest Homo sapiens, you're wrong. Archaeologists in Morocco have recently found bones of Homo sapiens that date 140,000 years before Lucy.  Although there is not enough evidence to conclude this was a whole new species, there is enough to tell it changes everything we thought we knew.  Knowing more about paleontology will lead us to who our ancestors really were.

Earlier this June, archeologists found Homo sapiens bones that lived earlier than Lucy in Morocco. The Homo Sapiens that were found were 3 young adults, 1 adolescent, and 1 child that was about 8 years old. We know the bones were of these ages because of the extent of the size the bones have grown. Scientists have an algorithm to find the age of bones. The bones were found in a rock layer that they know is 300,000 years old, so therefore the bones are 300,000 years old. Homo sapiens will remain a mystery for some time until we figure out how to interpret this information.

This discovery changes what we thought we knew about our ancestors.  For millions of years, Homo sapiens remained very ape-like. They had small brains, and were short and could only use basic stone tools. Homo sapiens were still half ape so they were not as smart as humans today. The bones of Lucy were excavated in Ethiopia so she was there at some time, but the new discovery in Morocco suggests that our ancestors came from all over. This changes the theory that all humans came from the same place within Ethiopia. Scientists will be arguing how to interpret this data for many years.

When paleontologists learn more about what came before us we can understand who we really are. Knowing what came before us can help us learn more about our world that we live in. Overall, the bones that were found in Morocco were an amazing discovery for everyone.