RABAT, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Morocco has classified Jbel Irhoud, the village where the world's oldest human species' fossils were discovered last year, as a national heritage site, local media reported Tuesday.

The announcement was made in the newest issue of Morocco's Official Gazette, Le360.ma news site said.

In June 2017, a team of international scientists discovered the fossils of Homo sapiens, the world's oldest human species, in the remote village of Jbel Irhoud near the southern city of Youssoufia.

According to Morocco's Institute of Sciences of Archaeology and Heritage, the remains of the Homo sapiens date back to more than 300,000 years.

The remains push back human species' origins by 100,000 years, and suggest that humans didn't evolve only in East Africa.

Since the 1960s, fossils dating back to the Middle Stone Age have been discovered in Jbel Irhoud.