The general consensus for decades has been that Homo erectus—an upright, long-legged species—was among the first hominins (or species closely related to modern humans) to leave Africa. Scientists presume members of this species traveled through the natural corridor of the Levant, a region along the eastern edge of the Mediterranean, around 2 ma ago. Scardia’s study suggests a far earlier exit. It proposes that hominins capable of tool creation may have been on the doorstep of Asia some 500 ka earlier.

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