Feeling old? DNA supports early evolution of our species

A study of DNA from African fossils is providing new evidence that our species is a lot older than scientists had shown.

It concludes Homo sapiens had appeared by at least 260,000 to 350,000 years ago. That fits with a fossil finding in Morocco that was reported in June, which suggested our species had emerged by around 300,000 years ago.

Previously, the oldest known fossils clearly from our species were a bit less than 200,000 years old, from Ethiopia.

For the new work, scientists studied DNA extracted from human remains found in South Africa. The fossils came from three Stone Age huntergatherers who lived about 2,000 years ago, and four Iron Age farmers who lived about 300 to 500 years ago. The researchers compared their genetic material to DNA from other ancient people as well as a variety of modernday humans.

The goal was to use differences to estimate when various populations split apart from each other.