New type of early human found in Israel

Prehistoric human bones that could not be matched to any known species from the Homo genus have been unearthed in the quarry of a cement plant near Ramla, Israel.

Dating from 120,000 to 140,000 years ago, the "Nesher Ramla Homo type", as it has been dubbed, would have roamed the area alongside Homo sapiens - the lineage of modern humans.

Researcher Dr Hila May of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine analysed the fossils.

Dr Hila May: "However, when we looked at these bones, we immediately saw that it's about a different type of human. It's not Homo sapien, Homo sapiens. The skull - the fragment of the skull - indicated a very low skull and flat, not like us that is rounded and tall, and the mandible had no chin. And we know the chin is something that only we have, the Homo sapiens. So, we immediately know, understood that we have something else. And the question was what it is."

Evidence indicates that the "Nesher Ramla" bore a resemblance to the Neanderthals that inhabited Europe. The team theorise that they may have been the descendants of the "Nesher Ramla".

Dr Hila May: "But what, what we have found is that the "Nesher Ramla Homo type" is actually the population source of the Neanderthals and - which migrated from here to Europe."

This upends the established theory that Neanderthals established themselves in Europe, with the Israeli researchers now asserting that they migrated from the Levant, where Israel is located.

Many other geneticists remain dubious. While they have previously posited the existence of an unknown species of the Homo genus dubbed the "missing population" or the "X population", they stress more work needs to be done to verify the Israeli team's claims.

The Israeli researchers, however, are convinced that they have uncovered the missing link in a land that acted as a melting pot for different human populations.

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