Greek find shows earlier African migration

A fragment of bone found in a cave in southern Greece could challenge theories on when Homo Sapiens ventured out of Africa.

A Greek find may surpass the Israel bones (shown) as the earliest sign of modern man outside Africa. Source: AAP

Scientists say they've identified the earliest sign of our species outside Africa, with a chunk of skull recovered from a cave in southern Greece.

Its estimated age is at least 210,000 years old, making it 16,000 or more years older than an upper jaw bone from Israel that was reported last year.

It shows Homo Sapiens began leaving Africa much earlier than previously thought, researchers reported Wednesday.

Other research has concluded that the exodus from Africa didn't happen until more than 100,000 years later.

The fossil, from the rear of a skull, was actually found decades ago - excavated in the late 1970s from the Apidima Cave in the southern Peloponnese region of Greece and later kept in a University of Athens museum.

Read more here.