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When and where were the oldest known Homo sapiens remains found?

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Illustration showing side-by-side reconstructions of five hominins in the human lineage: Australopithecus afarensis, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalensis, and Homo sapiens, with each figure labeled and depicted in a walking pose to highlight evolutionary changes in posture and body structure. A scale bar at the top right indicates relative height. — human evolution An artist's depiction of five species of the human lineage.

The oldest known remains of Homo sapiens were discovered at the Jebel Irhoud site in Morocco. These remains, which include skull fragments, a complete jawbone, and associated stone tools, have been dated to approximately 315,000 years ago.123

This discovery, revealed in 2017, significantly predates previously held estimates that placed the emergence of H. sapiens at roughly 200,000 years ago in East Africa. While the Omo Valley in Ethiopia was long considered the primary "cradle of humankind," the findings in Morocco suggest that the species may have been widely dispersed throughout the African continent much earlier than previously expected.124