World's oldest human species' fossils found in Morocco

Rabat: A team of international scientists has found the world`s oldest human species` fossil near the southern Moroccan city of Youssoufia, the Moroccan national Institute of Sciences of Archaeology and Heritage announced in a statement on Wednesday.

The institute said the remains of the Homo sapiens, which were found in a remote village called Jbel Irhoud, date back to over 300,000 years ago, Xinhua reported.

The remains push back human species` origins by 100,000 years, and suggest humans didn`t evolve only in East Africa, it added.

According to Nature magazine, the finds do not mean that Homo sapiens originated in North Africa. Instead, they suggest that the species` earliest members evolved all across the continent, scientists say.

In the 1960s, fossils dating back to the Middle Stone Age were discovered.