FOSSILS DATE BACK FURTHER

A NEW study published in scientific journal Nature has pushed back the date of the oldest human fossils from East Africa by close to 40 000 years. The fossils, first discovered in Ethiopia at the Omo Kibish site in 1967, were determined in 2005 to be at least 195 000 years old. The clue to refining the date of the remains was a fine layer of ash around the fossils. New research techniques and historic volcanic events linked the ash to a major eruption of a volcano named Shala. The ash was found to be 233 000 years old. | Sputnik