The origin of our species, Homo sapiens, has puzzled paleoanthropologists for generations — and finding the answer has only gotten more complicated with the discovery of far-flung fossils and the advent of genetic analysis. So where and when did our ancestors first appear?
Currently, the answer is still up for debate: Researchers have so far unearthed 300,000-year-old fossils attributed to our species, while some scientists trace modern humans' origins to 1 million years ago. One of the reasons for the lack of clarity is the definition of species itself: what do we mean by Homo sapiens?
