A team of researchers on Wednesday announced the discovery of ancient human teeth in a Chinese cave that is believed to be around 80,000 years old. The study contradicts a widely held belief that modern humans only spread to the rest of the world from Africa 60,000 years ago.

In a paper published in the Nature Journal, the scientists said they have discovered almost 50 teeth belonging to modern humans in a cave located in Daoxian in China's southern region. They dated the human fossils to be about 80,000 to 120,000 years old.

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Many archeologists and geneticists agree with the theory that modern humans in Africa started to immigrate out of the continent only 60,000 years ago. They claim early human ancestors were able to get out of Africa by crossing the shallowest part of the Red Sea.

It is thought that all modern humans living outside Africa descended from those immigrants. That widely held belief is now under question after the recent discovery in the Chinese cave.

University College of London Professor Doctor Maria Martinon-Torres believes that the discovered teeth were from modern human. However, she did not think they were more than 60,000 years old.

She explained that the teeth were securely encased in the cave's floor made of carbonate materials. The floor was covered by stalagmites that were formed 80,000 years ago - based on tests conducted by the scientists.

Animal bones and fossils were discovered among the human remains and tests also shows that they are as old as the teeth.

It is believed that some humans made earlier attempts prior to the known successful out of Africa migration. Earlier discoveries in the two Israeli caves uncovered human remains that were part of that earlier migration. Archeologists, however, concluded that the early migration attempts resulted in failure and none of those humans or their descendants survived.

The human teeth found in the caves in China may indicate that at least one such earlier migration attempt proved successful.

Almost six years ago, another team found a human skull buried in a cave in Laos that has been dated to be around 63,000 years.

Tagsout of africa migration, modern human, human fossil, ancient human teeth, ancient chinese remains, early human migration, early humans, ancient asians, Daoxian caves