Omo-1 fossil remains

How was Omo-1 discovered?

At 195,000 years old, the age of Omo-1 supports powerful genetic evidence that Homo sapiens is a young species—and Africa is where we all began.

The fossil remains of Omo-1, comprising sections of the arms, legs, feet, pelvis, and skull, were discovered in Ethiopia's Omo Valley by a team of international fossil hunters under the direction of Richard Leakey in 1967.

But the significance of Omo-1 wasn't known until later, in 2005 when scientists returned to his final resting place.

That's when they discovered Omo-1's skull had lain just above and just below layers of rock containing ash from a volcano that had blown 195,000 years ago—this made Omo-1 the oldest remains of a modern human ever found.