Abstract
The settlement of North Africa and the emergence of the first Homo sapiens is an ongoing debate, recently enriched by the discovery of a new human fossil at Jebel Irhoud (Morocco), attributed to a modern man and dated to around 300 ka (Hublin et al. , 2017).
It therefore seems important to reassess all the human fossil remains available in the region. In this context, through the geological and chronological recontextualization of the Rabat-Kébibat quarry, a French-Moroccan team has re-evaluated the human remains discovered at the site.
The human remains consist of 23 cranial fragments, a mandible (including on the right I1, P3, P4, the roots of M1, M2 and M3 and on the left I1, I2, C, P3, P4, M1 and M2), and the left part of a maxilla (including I1, I2, P3, P4, M1 and M2). Using a multidisciplinary approach, all tooth and bone fragments were examined for internal and external structures. Morphological and morphometric analysis data were compared with a reference collection of African, Asian and European hominin fossils from different chronological periods.
The results provide new data on the Rabat-Kebibat fossil remains, and help to clarify their phylogenetic affinities, particularly in terms of North African settlement.
