A skull fragment discovered in a cave in Israel over a decade ago has now been dated using several different testing methods to an age of between 177,000 and 194,000 years old, setting a new record in world's oldest human fossil outside of Africa.

While DNA analysis on modern human populations has hinted that we've been swanning about outside of the African continent for as long as 220,000 years, the fossil adds fresh perspective on our first steps into the far corners of the globe.

Misliya Cave sits on the western slopes of Mt Carmel in the modern nation of Israel. Today the site is a mere rock overhang, but in the early 2000s researchers found evidence that the site was once a deeper cave occupied by a community of our ancestors.

A number of animal and human remains, including a skull fragment and section of an upper jaw with teeth, have been dug from the sediment over the years, along with some flint artefacts.