Face of the oldest known human being reconstructed for the first time after 315,000 years underground in Morocco

From the Newshound archive · first published 30 September 2026.

Scientists have digitally rebuilt the face of a 315,000-year-old Homo sapiens whose fossilised skull was unearthed in Jebel Irhoud, western Morocco, in the 1960s. Forensic reconstruction expert Cicero Moraes led the work, producing a strikingly modern-looking face — dark-skinned, bearded, with only subtle differences from people alive today. The skull's brain volume of 1,230 cm³ is almost identical to the modern male average of 1,234 cm³, suggesting human brain size has barely shifted in three centuries of millennia.

Moraes said the ancient man 'would likely pass unnoticed at first glance' if dressed in modern clothes among a crowd.

The reconstruction was based on a 3D digital model of the skull produced by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig.

Scientists initially mistook the remains for a Neanderthal until a 2017 reappraisal confirmed them as the earliest Homo sapiens on record.