773,000-year-old Moroccan cave fossils reveal human and neandertal evolutionary split

773,000-year-old Moroccan cave fossils reveal human and neandertal evolutionary split

A set of ancient human fossils found on Morocco’s Atlantic coast now sits on one of the tightest timelines in African prehistory. The remains come from Thomas Quarry I, and a new analysis pins them to about 773,000 years ago, give or take 4,000 years. That level of precision is rare for fossils this old, and it pulls you closer to a moment near the split that later led to modern humans, Neandertals, and Denisovans. The research is led by an inte…