Jebel Irhoud
Channel: all the knowledge of the universe PRINCIPIA
Date: 17/01/2022

Jebel Irhoud, by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10085369 / CC BY SA 3.0

#2017_in_Morocco
#2017_in_paleontology
#Archaeological_sites_in_Morocco
#Caves_of_Morocco
#Human_evolution
#Paleoanthropological_sites
#Pleistocene_paleontological_sites_of_Africa
Jebel Irhoud （Moroccan Arabic: جبل إيغود, romanized: ǧabal īġūd pronounced [ʒbəl ˈiɣud]） is an archaeological site located just north of the locality known as Tlet Ighoud, approximately 50 km （30 mi） south-east of the city of Safi in Morocco.
It is noted for the hominin fossils that have been found there since the discovery of the site in 1960.
Originally thought to be Neanderthals, the specimens have since been assigned to Homo sapiens or Homo helmei and, as reported in 2017, have been dated to roughly 300,
000 years ago （286±32 ka for the Irhoud 3 mandible, 315±34 ka based on other fossils and the flint artefacts found nearby）.
The site is the remnant of a solutional cave filled with 8 metres （26 ft） of deposits from the Pleistocene era, located on the eastern side of a karstic outcrop of limestone at an elevation of 562 metres （1,844 ft）.
It was discovered in 1960 when the area was being mined for the mineral baryte.
A miner discovered a skull in the wall of the cave, extracted it, and gave it to an engineer, who kept it as a souvenir for a time.
Eventually, it was handed over to the University of Rabat, which organized a joint French-Moroccan expedition to the site in 1961 that was headed by the French researcher Émile Ennouchi.
Ennouchi's team identified the remains of approximately 30 species of mammals, some of which are associated with the Middle Pleistocene, but the stratigraphic provenance is unknown.
Another excavation was carried out by Jacques Tixier and Roger de Bayle des Hermens in 1967 and 1969, during which 22 layers were identified in the cave.
The lower 13 layers were found to contain signs of human habitation including a tool industry classified as Levallois Mousterian.
The site is p...