00:00There is a continuous debate about the nature of out-of-Africa migration.
00:04Was this a one-time event or did it take place on multiple occasions?
00:17The site of Ubediah is found close to the southern edge of the Sea of Galilee,
00:22near Kibbutz Beit Zera, and is one of the earliest prehistoric sites to be found outside of Africa
00:27and dates to around 1.5 million years ago.
00:30The only other site that predates Ubediah is the Manisi in the Republic of Georgia,
00:36which dates to around 1.8 million years ago.
00:41Ubediah was discovered and excavated in the early 60s by many of the famous Israeli pre-historians
00:47who uncovered rich stone tools assemblages that were used by early humans,
00:52together with numerous animal bones, some of which went extinct long time ago,
00:57like saber-toothed cats and mammoths, while others are not usually associated with Israel,
01:03such as hippos, rhinos, and big crocodiles.
01:06In 2018, Miriam Bellemaker won a National Science Foundation grant to study the ancient climate
01:13and to accurately date the site. While studying animal bones from the site,
01:18she came across a vertebra with a human-like feature that was actually excavated in 1966.
01:25Together with Professor Elabin, we studied the vertebra and came up with some new and important
01:31conclusions. First, it is a fossilized early human bone that belonged to a child. We know so because
01:38of the shape of the vertebra and the fact that it is incomplete, meaning that it did not finish its
01:45growing process. We estimate that had it reached adulthood, this individual would be around 1.8 meters
01:52tall and weigh about 19 kilograms. These numbers are similar to some of the large-bodied hominins
01:59that are found in Africa in the similar time period, but are very different from the small-body hominins
02:08that we found in Georgia. Second, he will witness two distinct human species at the same time period,
02:16which is known as the lower Pleistocene, outside of Africa. We know that the earlier stages of human
02:22evolution took place in Africa, based on the fossil record and by comparing DNA data from apes and humans.
02:31However, over the years, there is a continuous debate about the nature of out-of-Africa migration.
02:38Was this a one-time event or did it take place on multiple occasions? And who were the people who
02:44migrated out of Africa? Our current study indicates that early hominins migrated at least twice and in
02:53two distinct ways. This is because the people of Dmanisi are different in size and shape from those
02:59in Ubadia. Moreover, Dr. Omri Barzilai studied the stone artifacts from both sides,
03:05conclude that the stone manufacturing techniques as well as the stone tools themselves are different.
03:13Professor Miriam Bellmaker concludes that the climate as well as the animals are also different in both
03:19sides. Thus, with each migration waves came new and different types of hominins,
03:26with their own stone-making traditions, which may indicate maybe about their cognitive abilities
03:34and the different preferences of their ecological niche and habitat. Thank you for listening and have a great day.
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