Bone remains found in a Spanish cave are considered to be the oldest human remains in Western Europe. The remains, including pieces of the left cheekbone and the upper jaw, are from an extinct species of human beings that existed between 1.1 and 1.4 million years ago. This historic find indicates that two distinct groups of ancient humans once existed in Western Europe.
The fossils were found in the Atapuerca Mountains, which was already famous for Homo antecessor fossils. Scientists, who were headed by paleoanthropologist Rosa Huguet of the Catalan Institute, have dubbed the fossil ‘Pink,’ named after rock band Pink Floyd. Huguet’s research paper, The Earliest Human Face of Western Europe, appeared in Nature Journal.
Addressing the media, Huguet stated, “This paper brings a new player into the investigation of human evolution in Europe.” While digging at the Sima del Elefante site in 2022, a student of Huguet described they were “95% certain that we had a human remains” following the discovery.
Initially perplexed by the discovery, researcher Jose Maria Bermudez de Castro of Spain’s National Center for Research on Human Evolution made sure that the bones were from a human through examining the tooth shape. The team, after over two years of meticulous observation, concluded that the fossil was the “earliest human face of Western Europe.”
Besides the bones, scientists discovered three stone tools, one quartz cobble tool and two flakes (one quartz, one chert), all of which are of the Oldowan type—basic tools from early human times. They also found approximately 6000 animal bones and traces of trees and bushes in the region, showing that the early humans resided in open forests with plenty of trees and running water.
Because of the limited remains, scientists have not positively classified the species. The bones are provisionally assigned to Homo aff. erectus, which means they could be from Homo erectus, but that is not a surety. There is still a possibility that the bones can be from a completely different species, but more evidence must be established to prove this.
