Last January we reported the discovery of a maxilla found in Israel which placed the arrival of Homo sapiens in Israel, out of Africa, 50,000 years earlier than understood from earlier evidence. Our report read, “Previously scientists postulated the earliest Homo sapiens emerged from Africa into the Levant was 120,000 years ago. The paper in Science last Thursday announced a partial maxilla (upper jaw) was found in Masliya Cave in Israel and dated to between 177,000 and 194,000 years ago.”
In this week’s journal Science there are two articles on this matter. The first, entitled Comment on “The earliest modern humans outside Africa” questions the dating of the maxilla in Masliya Cave; the second, entitled Response to Comment on “The earliest modern humans outside Africa” argues for the soundness of the dating in rebuttal.
We urge readers to look at both articles.