Enlarge (credit: Vidal et al 2022) The oldest known Homo sapiens fossil is about 36,000 years older than previously thought, according to a recent study. Volcanologists matched a layer of ash above the fossil skull to an eruption of southern Ethiopia’s Shala volcano 233,000 years ago. Their findings seem to line up well with other recent research about when our species’ branch of the family tree split from that of our nearest hominin relatives, the ancestors of the now-extinct Neanderthals and Denisovans. Geochemical fingerprints on a Pleistocene crime scene Finding the oldest member of our species hasn’t been easy for paleoanthropologists.