German scientists have learned that a fossil from a cave in Greece is the oldest remains of modern humans ever found outside Africa.

The scientists, including those from the University of Tuebingen in Germany, restored two skulls found inside a cave in southern Greece and carried out radiometric dating.

One of the skulls was of a Homo sapiens dating back 210,000 years. The other was that of a Neanderthal who lived 170,000 years ago.

The group says the finding proves that modern humans left the African continent tens of thousands of years earlier than believed until now, and crossed paths with Neanderthals and other human species.

The researchers announced their findings in the British science journal Nature on Wednesday.

The oldest-known fossil of a modern human from Africa, the cradle of mankind, dates back some 300,000 years. A fossil unearthed in the Middle East is said to be 180,000 years old.

NHK