Hominins that predate the Human-Denisovan-Neanderthal split , from Morocco

A paper published yesterday (January 7, 2026) in Nature investigated some fossil remains found in a site (Grotte à Hominidés) at a quarry in Morocco, not far from the city of Casablanca. They belong to hominds who appear to be "basal" to modern H. sapiens, Neanderthals, and Denisovans. The authors date them to around 773,000 years ago and state that these remains reinforce "the case for an African rather than a Eurasian ancestry of H. sapiens."

This is the paper: Hublin, JJ., Lef&egravE;vre, D., Perini, S. et al. Early hominins from Morocco basal to the Homo sapiens lineage. Nature (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09914-y

This date is very close to the date when modern humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans split and went different ways, which is believed to have taken place between 550 and 765 thousand years ago.

The paper also suggests that they may be related to the Homo antecessor (TD6) whose remains have been found in Atapuerca, Spain, and whose remains have been dated to 950-770 ka. Though the Morccan remains and the Atapuerca fossils are similar, they also differ.

The Morocco fossils, named ThI-GH (from Thomas Quarry I, Grotte à Hominidés) combine modern and primitive traits. The site, excavated between 1994 and 2015 has produced Acheulean tools (typical of H. erectus), more primitive than the stone knapping techniques developed later by the Neanderthals.

The age of the remains

The authors analyzed the sediments in which the fossils were found, employing magnetostratigraphic tecniques that compare the sediments with the record of polarity reversals of the Earth's magnetic field, and found that "our analysis indicates hominin ages younger than 990 ka (top of Jaramillo) and close to the MBT at a nominal age of 773 ± 4 ka."

However, other tests find a younger age: "Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, performed in unit SU4 on cemented sands provided age estimates of 420 ± 34 ka and 391 ± 32 ka, of the same order as the ages obtained from OH2 to OH5. OSL ages appear to be inconsistent with the evidence that these formations belong to at least three glacioeustatic cycles and, for this reason, can be disputed. Combined electron-spin resonance (ESR) and U-series dating methods applied directly to an isolated hominin tooth from SU4 resulted in an estimated age of 501 ka +94 ka/−76 ka. The same method yielded ages ranging from 591 ± 103 ka to 538 ± 52 ka on three well-preserved herbivore teeth from SU4...

Below I quote the paper's relevant parts with my comments in brackets.

"These hominins cannot be directly compared with later specimens, such as the Kabwe or Bodo skulls, which have been tentatively assigned to H. heidelbergensis. Not only do these specimens differ substantially in age, but they also lack preservation of comparable anatomical parts. Our analysis suggests that the ThI-GH hominins probably belong to an evolved form of H. erectus sensu lato in North Africa, much as H. antecessor does in Europe.
[These hominins appear to be "evolved" Homo erectus - Homo antecessor group!]
However, the ThI-GH hominins offer an interesting contrast to both the Spanish fossils and the considerably older fossils from Tighennif (Algeria), which are likely to date to at least 1,000 ka. The fossil mandibles from Tighennif appear more primitive, larger and more robust than both the European H. antecessor and the northwest African ThI-GH fossils. The Spanish and Moroccan fossils share several features in their teeth and mandibles. Both groups display a combination of archaic and derived features reminiscent of later hominins. These similarities revive the question of possible exchanges across the Strait of Gibraltar during the EP. Nevertheless, the ThI-GH hominins are different from the TD6 hominins.
[Since the Strait of Gibraltar was breached by the sea during the Zanclean Flood about 5.33 million years ago (that eliminated the dry-land bridge between Europe and Africa as the Mediterranean basin filled up with water from the Atlantic, the "exchanges across the Strait of Gibraltar during the EP" or Early Pleistocene means that these people built watercraft to navigate the Strait of Gibraltar!]
The origin of H. sapiens, and the precise timing of the divergence of its ancestral populations from the Neanderthal–Denisovan clade, remain subjects of debate. Anatomical evidence has at times been used to argue for a split predating 800 ka and even for an alternative Asian ancestry of our species. In this context, the Maghreb fossils are key to understanding the diversification of MP [Mid Pleistocene] hominins. The morphology of the ThI-GH hominins places them close to the split between the African and Eurasian lineages. Our findings not only align with the phylogenetic structure inferred from palaeogenetic data but also highlight the Maghreb as a pivotal region for understanding the emergence of our species, reinforcing the case for an African rather than a Eurasian ancestry of H. sapiens."

The exchange across Gibraltar could be considered as an Out of Africa, for Homo erectus who entered Europe and evolved into Homo antecessor there, or probably a route into Africa from early hominins who (like those found in Dmanisi and the Caucasus) peopled Europe and returned via Spain to Africa across Gibraltar.

The authors seem intent on proving an African origin for "our species" and mention this twice in their paper. I am not so certain this paper suggestss an African origin for modern humans, it only describes hominins with an archaic-modern mossaic of features similar to those of H. erectus and H. antecessor, both of which are Eurasian!

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2026 by Austin Whittall © 

Aristotle, Carthaginians and America

Ancient Navigators Series

This post is part of a series on the Ancient Roman and Greek historians and geographers knowledge about America.

In Aristotle's de Mirabilibus Auscultationibus (Latin for: "of marvelous things heard") reported an incredible story:

"84. In the sea outside the Pillars of Heracles they say that a desert island was found by the Carthaginians, having woods of all kinds and navigable rivers, remarkable for all other kinds of fruits, and a few days' voyage away; as the Carthaginians frequented it often owing to its prosperity, and some even lived there,the chief of the Carthaginians announced that they would punish with death any who proposed to sail there, and that they massacred all the inhabitants, that they might not tell the story, and that a crowd might not resort to the island, and get possession of it, and take away the prosperity of the Carthaginians."

(Source)

There is no island beyond Gibraltar (Pillars of Heracles) with "navigable rivers", you would have to cross the Atlantic and reach America to find a river. Not in the Canaries, or Azores, or Madeira, neither in Cabo Verde Islands. Only in America.

For the record, Aristotle (384-322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath, his knowledge spanned many sciences and subjects from history to geography, economics to arts. His works are mostly lost, and have survived as quotes in surviving (yet later) texts. He was a disciple of Plato (the guy who invented or described Atlantis).

The text also mentions another strange land in the Atlantic:

"36 They say that Phoenicians who live in what is called Gades (Cadiz, Spain) , on sailing outside the Pillars of Heracles with an east wind for four days, came at once some desert lands, full of rushes and seaweed, which were not submerged when the tide ebbed, but were covered when the tide was full, upon which were found a quantity of tunny-fish, of incredible size and weight when brought to shore; pickling these and putting them into jars they brought them to Carthage. These alone the Carthaginians do not export, but owing to their value as food they consume them themselves."

Was this spot they reached after sailing for four days in America or along the coast of Africa?

The map above (source) shows the two distinct populations of bluefin tuna in the Atlantic, they breed separately, but feed together, they migrate from their spawning grounds in the Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean, and span the north-central Atlantic. It is possible that fishermen taken by sea currents could have discovered Cabral's "Volta do Mar" route to America.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2025 by Austin Whittall © 

Gibraltar Neanderthal DNA sequenced: they are not the last survivors.

The DNA of two Neanderthal skulls discovered in Gibraltar has revealed their sex and their affinity with the "Older" Neanderthals such as Scladina Belgium and Russia (see my recent post on the "Old" and "New" Neanderthals) instead of more recent Neanderthals from Spain.

One skull, found in 1848 in Forbes' quarry, lacks the stratigraphic information to be able to date it correctly, and it was assumed to be recent, as Gibraltar is the southernmost part of the Iberian peninsula, and therefore the last bastion where Neanderthals managed to survive when modern Homo sapiens occupied their European range.

But, according to the paper (A genetic analysis of the Gibraltar Neanderthals, Lukas Bokelmann et al. PNAS first published July 15, 2019 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1903984116), this skull (also known as Gibraltar 1) is actually closer to the earlier Neanderthals than to the more recent ones:

"is genetically more similar to the ∼120,000-y-old Neanderthals from Scladina Cave in Belgium (Scladina I-4A) and Hohlenstein-Stadel Cave in Germany, as well as to a ∼60,000- to 70,000-y-old Neanderthal from Russia (Mezmaiskaya 1), than to a ∼49,000-y-old Neanderthal from El Sidrón (El Sidrón 1253) in northern Spain ".

The second skull belonged to a child, discovered in 1926. The study proved that he was a boy, but his DNA affinity was not mentioned.

DNA Tree Neanderthals. From the paper

As we can see there is "affinity" with the Scladina, Altai and HST branch but we can also see that it is also on the branch that led to all later Neanderthals.

What is really interesting is that these skulls had been handled by many people who left their human DNA on them (back in 1926 or THE 1800s nobody even dreamed of DNA) yet the scientists managed to remove it and focus only on the Neanderthal DNA. Also they found it in bones from a warm setting -heat tends to destroy ancient DNA. So that means that we can harbor hopes that DNA from hot settings in China or Africa can also be sequenced.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2019 by Austin Whittall ©