Jebel Irhoud

Jebel Irhoud
Adrar Ighud
Alternate name	جبل إيغود
Location	East of Safi.
Region	Morocco
Coordinates	31°51′18″N 8°52′21″W / 31.85500°N 8.87250°WCoordinates: 31°51′18″N 8°52′21″W / 31.85500°N 8.87250°W
Height	592 m
History
Periods	Lower Paleolithic
Associated with	Homo sapiens
Site notes
Excavation dates	1991

Jebel Irhoud (or Adrar Ighud, Berber: Adrar n Iɣud) is an archaeological site. It is just north of Tlet Ighoud, about 50 km (30 mi) south-east of Safi in Morocco.

The site is noted for the hominin fossils that have been found there since its discovery in 1960. Originally thought to be Neanderthals, the specimens have since been assigned to Homo sapiens and have been dated to roughly 300,000 years ago (286±32 ka for the Irhoud 3 mandible, 315±34 ka based on other fossils and the flint artefacts found nearby).^[1]^[2]

Stone tools found at Jebel Irhoud

Jebel Irhoud Media

Jean-Jacques Hublin at Jebel Irhoud (Morocco), pointing to the crushed human skull (Irhoud 10), whose orbits are visible just beyond his finger tip
A composite reconstruction of the earliest-known Homo sapiens fossils from Jebel Irhoud, based on micro-computed tomographic scans of multiple original fossils

References

↑ David Richter et al. (8 June 2017). "The age of the hominin fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, and the origins of the Middle Stone Age". Nature. 546 (7657): 293–296. Bibcode:2017Natur.546..293R. doi:10.1038/nature22335. PMID 28593967. S2CID 205255853.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link) "Here we report the ages, determined by thermoluminescence dating, of fire-heated flint artefacts obtained from new excavations at the Middle Stone Age site of Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, which are directly associated with newly discovered remains of H. sapiens8. A weighted average age places these Middle Stone Age artefacts and fossils at 315 ± 34 thousand years ago. Support is obtained through the recalculated uranium series with electron spin resonance date of 286 ± 32 thousand years ago for a tooth from the Irhoud 3 hominin mandible.
↑ Callaway, Ewan (7 June 2017). "Oldest Homo sapiens fossil claim rewrites our species' history". Nature. doi:10.1038/nature.2017.22114. Retrieved 5 July 2017.

[1] David Richter et al. (8 June 2017). "The age of the hominin fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, and the origins of the Middle Stone Age". Nature. 546 (7657): 293–296. Bibcode:2017Natur.546..293R. doi:10.1038/nature22335. PMID 28593967. S2CID 205255853.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link) "Here we report the ages, determined by thermoluminescence dating, of fire-heated flint artefacts obtained from new excavations at the Middle Stone Age site of Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, which are directly associated with newly discovered remains of H. sapiens8. A weighted average age places these Middle Stone Age artefacts and fossils at 315 ± 34 thousand years ago. Support is obtained through the recalculated uranium series with electron spin resonance date of 286 ± 32 thousand years ago for a tooth from the Irhoud 3 hominin mandible.

[2] Callaway, Ewan (7 June 2017). "Oldest Homo sapiens fossil claim rewrites our species' history". Nature. doi:10.1038/nature.2017.22114. Retrieved 5 July 2017.

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