Prehistoric human shakes up evolutionary tree
This is Nesher Ramla
a previously unknown kind of early human
who could be an ancestor to the Neanderthals
Location: Tel Aviv, Israel
(SOUNDBITE) (English) HILA MAY, PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGIST AT THE DAN DAVID CENTER AND THE SHMUNIS INSTITUTE OF TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY, SAYING: "Nesher Ramla findings are the missing piece in the puzzle that can help us explain open questions in human evolutionary history and can give us indication of the origin, the source population of Neanderthals who lived later in Europe."
Excavators uncovered the fossilized bones in central Israel
among stone tools and the bones of horses and deer
The bones are believed to be about 130,000 years old