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[chadskin]

Archaeology students have unearthed what is understood to be the oldest human body part ever found in France - a tooth from 560,000 years ago.

The tooth was found by students who were working voluntarily in the Arago Cave in Tautavel, in the Pyrénées-Orientales département in southern France.

The cave is already famous in archaeological circles as it was there that the Tautavel Man was discovered, a 450,000-year-old Homo Erectus.

The tooth, which was uncovered on Thursday, predates the Tautavel Man by 100,000 years.

"A large adult tooth -- we can't say if it was from a male or female -- was found during excavations of soil we know to be between 550,000 and 580,000 years old, because we used different dating methods," paleoanthropologist Amelie Viallet told the AFP news agency.

In 2011, researchers at the cave discoverd a baby tooth, suggesting Homo heidelbergensis, probably the ancestor of Homo sapiens in Africa and the Neanderthals in Europe, led a family life in the cave.

http://www.thelocal.fr/20150728/french-archaeologists-find-560000-year-old-human-tooth

Holy fuck.

 

[Staab]

What the ? That's huge !

Changes our theories quite a bit..

 

[Finaika]

WTF

 

[Tablo]

wat now >_>

 

[AwesomeSauce]

Were you there?

 

[Sesuadra]

So stargate was right all along.

 

[Duffman]

Holy shit

 

[Sayad]

The Flintstones lives!

 

[chicagocubsfan]

Wow

 

[Crossing Eden]

Wow.

 

[Mush]

Excuse me?

 

[chadskin]

Wow.

That's the 45,000 year-old teeth found in 2011.

 

[Crossing Eden]

That's the 45,000 year-old teeth found in 2011.

Oi, my mistake. I had just reached the bottom of the article that says:

A version of this article appears in print on November 3, 2011, on page A4 of the New York edition with the headline: Fossil Teeth Put Humans in Europe Earlier Than Thought. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe

and was like "what?" before reloading the page.

 

[maquiladora]

Kinda need a bit more than just "researcher".

 

[Shmuppers]

That's incredible.

Spoiler

if true

 

[slit]

Wow, major finding.

 

[Lamel]

Is there any source for the 560k number other than twitter? The article does not have it.

Edit: Ah okay the article is old. That is ridiculously old if true, god damn. It's weird though because homo sapiens are supposedly only 200k years old: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_sapiens#cite_note-22. So is this really "human" or more "hominid"? Gonna wait for more sources.

Also here is a pretty cool image of human migration:

 

[miku]

Wow... 560,000 year-old!??

 

[Shuggananas]

but I thought the earth was created 4000 years ago ???

 

[Einchy]

What kind of animals were alive 560,000 years ago?

 

[Matt_]

Oh I see now, the article is to show where we were a few years ago compared to what was discovered now
If it's confirmed and not just a fluke with dating then it is groundbreaking

 

[chadskin]

Kinda need a bit more than just "researcher".

Is there any source for the 560k number other than twitter? The article does not have it.

Edit: Ah okay the article is old. That is ridiculously old if true, god damn.

AFP tweets out breaking news, followed by a longer article a bit later. I'll edit it in once it's online.

 

[maquiladora]

http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2...s-decouverte-dans-les-pyrenees-orientales.php

They say it was found at a level known to date back that long. I think I'll wait for further testing on the tooth itself to see if it really is that old and if it really is "human".

 

[Any Questions]

Will wait and see. I also thought 50,000 years ago homo-sapians set off on the trail.

500,000 seems like a typo

 

[Ninja Scooter]

does the tooth fairy pay with interest?

 

[Joni]

Article in Le Figaro: http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2...s-decouverte-dans-les-pyrenees-orientales.php
Would be even older than the Tautavel Man who is 450.000 years old.

Holy fuck. Previously, the oldest human remains found in Europe were believed to be 45,000 years old.

Homo Sapiens. This is probably a Homo Erectus.

 

[Lamel]

Article in Le Figaro: http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2...s-decouverte-dans-les-pyrenees-orientales.php
Would be even older than the Tautavel Man who is 450.000 years old.

Tautavel is homo erectus though.

Edit: Beaten by the stealth edit! Erectus isn't "human" though, which is where I am a bit skeptical about this finding/reporting.

 

[chadskin]

Homo Sapiens. This is probably a Homo Erectus.

Yeah. Then it's not as shocking as I initially thought. Either a Homo Heidelbergensis or a Homo Erectus. Still 100K years older than the oldest remains found previously.

 

[Khaz]

It's likely to be from an Homo Erectus, the previous earliest trace of them in the area was 450 000 years ago.

 

[Joni]

Yeah. Then it's not as shocking as I initially thought. Either a Homo Heidelbergensis or a Homo Erectus. Still 100K years older than the oldest remains found previously.

Indeed, which in itself is really amazing. Homo heidelbergensis would be a very nice find, but very likely just Erectus.

Tautavel is homo erectus though.

Edit: Beaten by the stealth edit! Erectus isn't "human" though, which is where I am a bit skeptical about this finding/reporting.

Usually, 'human' isn't really restricted to Homo Sapiens Sapiens in cases like this.

 

[Monocle]

But will it blend?

 

[Stinkles]

Chakas?

 

[Lamel]

Still a crazy find even if it isn't homo sapiens, because it still predates the oldest one by 100k+ years. Love stuff like this - makes me wonder what was going on 500k years ago, with our ancestors living life back then.

I recommend everyone watch the BBC series Walking with Cavemen - it gives a good introduction to ape/hominid evolution and is very entertaining to watch.

 

[Teran]

So stargate was right all along.

 

[Ratrat]

What the ? That's huge !

Changes our theories quite a bit..

What theories?

 

[Monocle]

Chakas?

 

[ManUnkindH]

What kind of animals were alive 560,000 years ago?

 

[lastplayed]

What kind of animals were alive 560,000 years ago?

Mammals, insects, some fish.

 

[Beren the Empty-Handed]

What kind of animals were alive 560,000 years ago?

.

 

[Gr1mLock]

Were you there?

Raylan pls

 

[UnObtainium17]

Hoe can they know its a persons tooth? Shit looks like a Falkor dog tooth to me.

 

[jelly]

Jesus Christ.

 

[True Savior]

You could say he looks like an ancestor of ours

 

[Random17]

.

He's off by 460k years though.

Spoiler

 

[Maklershed]

I think the author of the article is confused and saw the Homo designation and assumed that meant human. Modern humans are not part of the Homo Erectus group nor has it ever been proven we've existed that long let alone migrated to Europe.

 

[viHuGi]

Well this Planet still has a bilion years left so im sure people will be always fiding new stuff from thousands and milion years ago.

 

[Bedameister]

I think the author of the article is confused and saw the Homo designation and assumed that meant human. Modern humans are not part of the Homo Erectus group nor has it ever been proven we've existed that long let alone migrated to Europe.

Yes also what I thought. This is probably not as big as many think it is. This this comes from some homo species and not homo sapiens so not big of a deal.

 

[Stet]

Looks like a corn nut.

 

[BobTheFork]

but I thought the earth was created 4000 years ago ???

Only God can add a zero.

 

[KurtSloane]

Well this Planet still has a bilion years left so im sure people will be always fiding new stuff from thousands and milion years ago.

A billion years left? Based on what?

The sun won't go into red giant phase for a lot more than a billion years, 3 - 4 last I heard.