If you’ve ever wondered what your ancestors looked like 300,000 years ago, look no further.
The oldest known human face has been reconstructed for the first time, revealing a depiction of a “strong yet gentle” figure.
It was created by Brazilian graphics expert Cicero Moraes, who used a 3D scan of the skull to bring our relative to life.
The fossil, discovered at Jebel Irhoud – named after the archaeological site in Morocco where it was found – proves that humans, or Homo sapiens, evolved 100,000 years earlier than previously thought.
It also proves that our ancestors grew out of the “Cradle of Humanity” in East Africa and spread across the continent thousands of years earlier than previous evidence suggested.
Moraes explained the process: “First, we scanned the skull in 3D using data provided by researchers at the Max Planck Institute.
![Facial reconstruction](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/SEI_209392731-ed7d.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&zoom=1&resize=600%2C600)
![Facial reconstruction](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/SEI_209392731-ed7d.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&zoom=1&resize=600%2C600)
![Composite skull from Jebel Irhoud](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/SEI_209392858-4d17.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&zoom=1&resize=600%2C600)
![Composite skull from Jebel Irhoud](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/SEI_209392858-4d17.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&zoom=1&resize=600%2C600)
“We then combined several approaches, including anatomical deformation, to further approximate the face.”
The technique involves mapping a 3D skull diagram onto a “donor” skull prototype modeled after an adult male with a low BMI.
Moraes said he chose to give the skull a man’s face based on the skull’s “rugged, masculine” features.
![Black and white reproduction](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/SEI_209392854-1753.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&zoom=1&resize=600%2C600)
![Black and white reproduction](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/SEI_209392854-1753.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&zoom=1&resize=600%2C600)
They also used data from modern humans to predict soft tissue thickness and the protrusion of the nose and other facial structures.
“The final face is an interpolation of all this data, which produces two groups of images: one that is objective, has more technical elements, has no hair and is in grayscale,” Moraes said.
“The other is artistic, involving pigmentation of the skin and hair.”
The skull itself is actually a composite of various fossils, recreated throughout in a way that the designers say is “fantastic and very consistent, anatomically speaking.”
![Different skull shapes](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/SEI_209392803-b641.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&zoom=1&resize=600%2C608)
![Different skull shapes](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/SEI_209392803-b641.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&zoom=1&resize=600%2C608)
The Max Planck Institute, which provided the skull data, said the Jebel Irhoud remains had a “modern face and teeth, and a large but more archaic-looking skull”.
The institute said genetic changes affecting brain connectivity, organization and development transformed the braincase into the skull we see today.
Moraes agrees, comparing it to the skull of ancient Homo sapiens Skul V.
“The Jebel Irhoud skull has several features consistent with Neanderthals and Homo sapiens.” [extinct human relatives].
“It’s fascinating to observe the differences and compatibility of these skull and facial structures over thousands of years.”
![Cicero Moraes at work](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/SEI_209392797-912c.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&zoom=1&resize=600%2C337)
![Cicero Moraes at work](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/SEI_209392797-912c.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&zoom=1&resize=600%2C337)
The fossils at Jebel Irhoud were first discovered in the 1960s and estimated to be around 40,000 years old, but when scientists revisited the site, new techniques revealed that the bones were roughly 300,000 years old.
“We once thought that the birthplace of humanity was in East Africa 200,000 years ago,” Jean-Jacques Hublin of the Max Planck Institute said at the time.
“In fact, what we’ve found is that Homo sapiens is even older, having spread across the African continent about 300,000 years ago.”
The discovery eclipses the previous record held by researchers at Omokibish in Ethiopia, which dates back 195,000 years.
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