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Article: Earlier migration to Asia by humans' ancestors is cited
- Article from:
- The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
- Article date:
- February 24, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1994 The Boston Globe. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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SAN FRANCISCO -- Scientists have determined that the primitive
human fossils called "Java man" from Indonesia are nearly 1.8 million
years old, a startling discovery that suggests that modern man's
direct ancestors left Africa 800,000 years earlier than had been
thought.
The bones, found decades ago, are scientifically termed Homo
erectus. Their redating means not only that this species of human
ancestors began exploring the world earlier than anthropologists had
believed, but it also explains another puzzle -- why no stone tools
characteristic of Homo erectus in Africa had been found in Java or
elsewhere in Asia.
The answer, scientists now think, is that some of the Homo
erectus ...