Four views of the fossil finger bone from Al Wusta in Saudi Arabia. Scientists say it belonged to a member of the Homo sapiens species who lived about 88,000 years ago. The bone itself is about 3 centimeters long and less than 1 centimeter across. (Ian Cartwright)
It's only 3 centimeters long and less than 1 centimeter wide, but it has the potential to rewrite the history of our ancestors' migration out of Africa.
The object in question is a fossilized piece of a bone, probably the middle portion of a middle finger. Based on its shape, scientists believe that it belonged to a member of the Homo sapiens species.
Two things make it unusually significant.
First, uranium series dating techniques indicate that the bone is between 85,000 and 90,000 years old.
Second, it was found in Al Wusta, a site in Saudi Arabia's Nefud desert that's hundreds of miles from the nearest coastline.
Those factors stand in sharp contrast to the traditional "out of Africa" narrative of human migration. Based on both archaeological evidence and genetic analysis, this theory posits that modern humans left their home continent about 60,000 years ago and stayed near the coasts as they spread out across the world.
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