A recent study has reclassified Japan’s oldest human fossils, discovered in the 1950s, as belonging to a prehistoric brown bear rather than early Homo sapiens. Advanced imaging techniques confirmed the bones were from an ancient brown bear (Ursus arctos). This discovery shifts the timeline for Japan’s oldest human remains to skeletal fragments from Hamakita, dating back 14,000 to 17,000 years. This emphasizes the challenges in fossil analysis and the role of technology in archaeological discoveries.
