Archaeologists in Saudi Arabia believe they have discovered the Middle East’s oldest human bone during an excavation.

The bone is the middle section of the middle finger of a human that scientists claim lived 90,000-years-ago.

If this estimate is correct, it would make the bone the oldest trace of human life in the Arabian Peninsula and predate the time when humans are thought to have migrated out of Africa to spread around the world.

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Archaeologists in Saudi Arabia believe they have discovered the Middle East’s oldest human bone during an excavation. The bone is the middle section of the middle finger of a human who was thought to live 90,000 years ago

EVOLUTION OF THE HUMAN HAND After the earliest hominins - which includes all members of the Homo genus - began walking on two legs some six million years ago, the hand evolved a longer thumb. But the fingers remained curved, suggesting that trees remained part of their habitat. This 'double locomotion' - on the ground, through the trees - remained the norm for another four million years. As our ancestors abandoned their arboral perches, their fingers began to straighten, opening the way for the creation and use of tools. 'Hands were freed from locomotion in trees so that they could become strictly specialised in manipulation,' said Dominguez-Rodrigo. 'This is where our discovery fills a gap.' The earliest confirmed stone tools date from about 2.6 million years ago. Fossils from the earliest modern hand date back to 1.85 million years ago. Advertisement

The 'Out of Africa' theory states that our species, Homo sapiens, left Africa around 60,000 years ago.

But it could add to evidence that a few smaller migrations occurred before the main event.

Previous evidence has pointed to the idea that humans had a few failed migration attempts out of Africa before 60,000 years ago.

Fossils from Israel found last year showed modern humans made it out of Africa around 120,000 years ago, but they did not stick around for long.

It was thought this initial migration was a failure, with the Israeli individuals either going extinct or retreating back.

The middle finger bone was found as part of a joint project between archaeologists from the University of Oxford and Saudi researchers, as part of the Green Arabia Project.

They found the bone at the Taas al-Ghadha site near to the northwestern Saudi city of Tayma.

Saudi Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz, who serves as the president and chairman of the Board of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage, announced the finding in a speech last week.

According to London-based newspaper, Asharq Al-Awsat, the discovery is 'considered an important achievement for the Saudi researchers who participated in these missions and one of the most important outcomes of Prince Sultan’s support and care for the archaeology sector in the Kingdom.'

The researches claim this is the old human bone found in the Middle East.

The bone found in Saudi Arabia is not the oldest in the world, however. The most ancient human bone, thought to belong to an early species of human, is a jaw bone found in Ethiopia in 2015.

It is dated to 2.8 million years ago, and predates all other fossils in the lineage by 400,000 years.

The finding comes from a joint project between archaeologists from the University of Oxford and Saudi researchers, as part of the Green Arabia Project. They found the bone at the Taas al-Ghadha site near to the northwestern Saudi city of Tayma

The oldest bone from an early species of human is a jaw bone found in Ethiopia in 2015. It is dated to 2.8 million years ago, and predates other fossils in the lineage by 400,000 years