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The remains
of this male individual, known as Skhul V, were recovered from
the Skhul Cave near Mount Carmel, Israel, along with the skeletons
of nine other adults and children. The anatomical features of
this skull are reminiscent of earlier, "archaic" humans. One notable
example is the bony torus over the orbits, or brow ridge (see
bottom photograph). In the same photograph, though, note the high
forehead, which rises nearly vertically from the face, and the
expanded frontal portion of the braincase. These are features
typical of modern human skulls. Also, at the back of the skull,
note the lack of a projecting"bun", which occurs in many Neanderthal
skulls. Compare these details seen in Skhul V to those of a Homo
neanderthalensis individual: La Chapelle-aux-Saints.
The Skhul site was originally thought to be about 40,000 years
old based on a comparison of animal remains and stone tools found
at the site with those from other archeological sites in the region.
The implications of this late date were important since it was
assumed that the Neanderthal fossils found at the nearby fossil
site of Tabun Cave must be older than the modern Homo sapiens
population of Skhul. This assumption left open the possibility
that the Tabun Neanderthals were the evolutionary ancestors of
modern humans at Skhul.
However, with the application of more precise dating techniques,
scientists found that the modern H. sapiens fossils at Skhul were
about 90,000 years old, much older than was previously thought.
This made the anatomically modern human population at Skhăl contemporaries
of the Neanderthal population of Tabun. The implication is that
the Tabun Neanderthals could not have been the ancestors of modern
humans in the Near East.
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