Homo sapiens in Europe

Apidima 1 (left) is a modern human; Apidima 2 (right) is a Neanderthal.KATERINA HARVATI / EBERHARD KARLS UNIVERSITY OF TÜBINGEN

Homo sapiens fossil oldest found in Europe A 210,000-year-old skull seems to be the oldest Homo sapiens fossil ever found outside Africa by 30,000 years. It was discovered, along with another fossil skull nearby, in the Apidima cave in southern Greece in the 1970s, but has only now been analysed using modern techniques. The second skull is that of a Neanderthal, who lived more recently, potentially upending some theories about the order in which Neanderthals and modern humans came to Europe. “Our findings support multiple dispersals of early modern humans out of Africa,” say the researchers, and highlight just how complex the human story is. The Atlantic | 5 min read Reference: Nature paper