Face of world’s first human – a ‘strong and serene’ man – is revealed 300,000 years after his death
The face of the first man was revealed 300,000 years after his death.
Scientists have reconstructed the oldest known Homo sapien skull, found in Morocco, which was missing the lower jaw when it was uncovered in 2017.
The team made a digital scan of the skull and covered it with soft tissue and skin. This created a man who was described as ‘strong and serene’.
The ancient skull proved that Homo sapiens appeared 100,000 years earlier than thought and migrated out of Africa before previous evidence had suggested.
The lifelike statue was created by researchers who reconstructed the skull of the oldest known Homo sapien
Brazilian graphics expert Cicero Moraes completed the recreation after obtaining data from researchers at the Max Planck Institute.
‘I initially scanned the skull in 3D, using data from researchers at the Max Planck Institute.
‘I then moved on to the facial approach, which consisted of crossing different approaches, such as anatomical deformation.
‘This is where the tomography of a modern human is used, where it is modified so that the donor’s skull becomes the Jebel Irhoud skull and the deformation ultimately generates a compatible face.’
The skull’s name comes from the place where it was found.
The donor skull was also digitized and chosen because it most closely resembled that of the ancient skull, allowing researchers to fill in the missing parts of the ancient remains.
Further data from modern humans was used to predict the thickness of the soft tissue and the likely projection of the nose and other facial structures.
Scientists have reconstructed the oldest known Homo sapien skull found in Morocco, which was missing its lower jaw when it was uncovered in 2017
The team performed a digital scan of the skull, covering it with soft tissue and skin, creating a man described as “strong and serene.”
βThe final face is the interpolation of all this data, which generates two groups of images, one objective, with more technical elements, without hair and in grayscale,β Cicero said.
‘The other is artistic, with pigmentation of skin and hair.’
However, the true sex of the individual is unknown due to the absence of pelvic bones.
The skull was excavated by researchers from the Max Planck Institute and found alongside stone tools and animal bones at Jebel Irhoud.
Previously, the oldest Homo sapiens fossils were known from the Omo Kibish site in Ethiopia, dating from 195,000 years ago.
However, the true sex of the individual is unknown due to the absence of pelvic bones
That led most researchers to believe that all people alive today are descended from a population that lived in East Africa around this time.
Professor Jean-Jacques Hublin, who led the study, said: ‘We used to think there was a cradle of humanity in East Africa 200,000 years ago, but our new data reveal that Homo sapiens spread across the whole of Africa around 300,000 years ago. continent spread. .
‘Long before the spread of Homo sapiens outside Africa, there was spread within Africa.’
Jebel Irhous has been known for its human fossils since the 1960s, and the latest discovery brings the total number of remains to 22.
The team of researchers discovered skulls, teeth and long bones of at least five individuals: two adults and three children.