Life › Human evolution › Homo sapiens
Jebel Irhoud (Morocco)
c. 315,000 years ago (dated 2017)· Fossil or site· Human ancestors & us
Strong evidenceGood evidence; dates or details still being refined.
A Moroccan site with the oldest known fossils attributed to Homo sapiens, dated in 2017 to about 315,000 years ago.
See it on the Life map →What happened
Miners at a barite mine found a skull at Jebel Irhoud in 1961. For decades the fossils were thought to be about 40,000, then about 160,000 years old. New excavations led by Jean-Jacques Hublin and Abdelouahed Ben-Ncer, starting in 2004, found remains of at least five individuals alongside Middle Stone Age tools. Their faces and teeth look modern, but their braincases are long and low, unlike ours.
Why it matters
It pushed the origin of Homo sapiens back about 100,000 years and showed that early members of our species lived across Africa, not only in East Africa.
The evidence (fossils, genes, rocks)
Thermoluminescence dating of burned flints gave about 315,000 years, give or take about 34,000; a tooth was dated separately by electron spin resonance. Published in Nature, 2017.
Still debated
Whether our species arose in one region or across many connected African populations is debated, and some researchers question how securely the fossils match the dated flints.
Connections (2)
▸Jebel Irhoud (Morocco) holds the oldest known fossils of Homo sapiensStrong evidence
The connection
Re-dated in 2017 to about 315,000 years, the Jebel Irhoud skulls have a modern-looking face and teeth but a long, low braincase. They suggest our species' face evolved first and the rounded brain later, pushing back the origin of sapiens by about 100,000 years.
When and how
Jebel Irhoud, Morocco; first fossils found by miners in 1961; new fossils and dates from Jean-Jacques Hublin and Abdelouahed Ben-Ncer's team, published in Nature in 2017.
How sure are we?
Heated flint tools were dated by thermoluminescence and a tooth by electron spin resonance; 3D shape comparisons placed the faces within the modern human range.
Debates and open questions
Whether a modern face on an archaic braincase counts as Homo sapiens is partly a matter of definition; some prefer to call them early relatives or 'proto-sapiens'.
▸Jebel Irhoud (Morocco) is about 250,000 years older than Out of Africa: Homo sapiens spreads worldwideStrong evidence
The connection
Jebel Irhoud shows Homo sapiens existed by about 315,000 years ago, roughly 250,000 years before the main dispersal from Africa. For most of its history, our species lived only in Africa, evolving and mixing across the continent before a lasting expansion beyond it.
When and how
Morocco, about 315,000 years ago; the main exit, likely through the Middle East or Arabia, about 70,000–50,000 years ago.
How sure are we?
Fossil dates in Africa and genetic estimates of when non-Africans branched off agree on a long African prehistory.
Debates and open questions
Why a lasting expansion took so long, and why earlier forays into Israel and perhaps Greece left little lasting trace, are debated.