It is the oldest evidence of an ancient ancestor ever found in Israel, it stresses. The find is included in a new study conducted by Bar Ilan University and Ono Academic College in central Israel, the University of Tulsa in the United States, and the IAA.
The bone was unearthed in 1966 in the Ubeidiya area on the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee in northeastern Israel. Excavations at Ubeidiya have recently resumed, and in reworking the bones and tools that had been found in the area, researchers singled out the specific bone identified as a lumbar vertebra. The research team discovered that it belonged to a child, aged 6-12 years old, quite tall for his age, who would have reached a height of 1.80m if he had lived to adulthood, according to calculations.
According to the study, which was published in the journal Scientific Reports, the migration of the human race from Africa to the rest of the world was not something that happened all at once, but evolved in waves. The first of these arrived in what is now Georgia 1.8 million years ago and the second passed through Ubeidiya 1.5 million years ago, according to the Israeli researchers.
Comparing the Ubeidiya lumbar vertebra with fossil bones found in Dmanisi, Georgia, (ed. where the oldest, perfectly preserved, complete humanoid skull has been found), researchers have found that they are two different types of our ancestors.
They are two different types, in terms of how they looked, how they made and used tools, and where they chose to live. As Professor Miriam Belmeiker from the University of Tulsa notes, Israel has a Mediterranean climate, while Georgia has a drier climate with savannah habitat.
Source: CNA
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