By Dan Bammes
Salt Lake City, UT – Back in 1967, the fossil remains of two early humans were found near Kibish, Ethiopia. At least one of them was the skull of Homo sapiens, one of the earliest specimens of our own species ever found. But just how old it is hadn't been precisely determined until now. Follow-up work by Frank Brown, the dean of the College of Mines and Earth Sciences at the University of Utah, and his colleagues John Fleagle and Ian MacDougall, have dated the rock strata where they were found at 197-thousand years, much older than previously thought. KUER's Dan Bammes spoke to Professor Brown. His study is published in the current issue of the science journal Nature.