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Fragment of a Homo sapiens child’s jaw

-38 000 ans (Pléistocène)

Musée des Confluences

Musée des Confluences
Lyon, France

The common ancestor of all primates goes back more than 60 million years. One of the traits we inherited from it, among others, was the opposable thumb that enables us to grasp and
hold. This group of monkeys went on to become greatly diversified and our human branch of it also formed numerous offshoots. Homo neanderthalensis were among the humans that were our contemporaries. Our species, Homo sapiens, existed alongside them in Europe for more than 10,000 years.

This fragment of jaw is one of the oldest remains of our own species of Homo sapiens to be discovered in France.

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  • Title: Fragment of a Homo sapiens child’s jaw
  • Date created: -38 000 ans (Pléistocène)
  • Location: France (Poitou-Charentes)
  • Physical Dimensions: H: 2,5 cm; W: 5,5 cm; D: 3,2 cm
  • Provenance: Excavations at La Quina in Gardes-le-Pontaroux., Donated by Claudius Côte
  • Subject Keywords: palaeontology, anthropology, hominid, homo sapiens, human remains, permanent exhibition
  • Rights: Musée des Confluences (Lyon, France)
  • External Link: Learn more at the museum website
Musée des Confluences

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