The face of Irhoud, the oldest Homo sapiens discovered so far, lived 315,000 years ago and has a modern face and teeth, but a large and archaic skull. His remains, discovered in Morocco, have rewritten the evolutionary history of humans, moving the origin of our species out of sub-Saharan Africa and anticipating its appearance by about 100,000 years.
The Irhoud’s face was reconstructed thanks to 3D scans of various elements belonging to multiple individuals. The study, published in the journal OrtogOnLineMag, involved researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Anthropology and Brazilian expert Cicero Moraes.
The three-dimensional reconstruction of Irhoud’s face
Moraes, known for his three-dimensional reconstructions of historical faces, used a combination of innovative approaches.
“I scanned the skull in 3D and used the tomography of a modern human, deforming it to fit the Jebel Irhoud skull,”
explains the expert. Data from modern humans was added to predict soft tissue thickness, nose shape, and other facial features. The final result It is a combination of technical and artistic elements that present Irhoud with a modern face and teeth, but with a large and archaic skull.
According to Moraes, the Irhoud skull resembles Very to another find, called Skhul V, discovered in Israel and dating back to about 120 thousand years ago. However, it also presents some characteristics compatible with the Neanderthal and the Heidelbergensis, making Irhoud a interesting bridge between different ancient human groups.
This discovery not only provides new insights into human evolution, but also invites us to rethink our origins and the diversity of early Homo sapiens.
What do you think about this discovery? Are you surprised by the way technology can reconstruct the past?
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