From the article:
"If the ancient finds in the Mediterranean can be verified, they will show that Homo erectus or Neanderthals or both had the skills and cognitive ability to build boats and navigate them," Simmons said.
The dating of the tools found indicate (to the author) that the habitations found are earlier than modern humans, obviously (to the author) the folks that lived here were Homo Erectus or Neaderthal.
On the other hand, why can't this be evidence of modern humans?
Just because we have yet to discover the evidence of 'modern human type' from that age doesn't mean that eventually something may be uncovered.
On the other hand, some scientists are speculating that the people of today are a mixture of Neanderthals, Homo Erectus, and Denisovans. Maybe there will be more discoveries that widen our family tree even bigger.
Have a great day.
