A groundbreaking fossil find in Spain’s Atapuerca Mountains has pushed back the timeline of human habitation in Western Europe by hundreds of thousands of years. The discovery, made at the Sima del Elefante archaeological site, includes a fragment of a human face estimated to be between 1.1 million and 1.4 million years old, making it the earliest human remains found so far in the region.
Led by Dr. Rosa Huguet, researchers have identified the fossil as Homo affinis erectus (H. aff. erectus), an extinct human relative. The find was published recently in the journal Nature and has significant implications for our understanding of human evolution in Europe.
The Sima del Elefante site, which dates back to around 860,000 years ago, previously yielded fossils classified as Homo antecessor, a species thought to share facial traits with modern humans. However, the new discovery shows distinct differences from these previous finds, suggesting a more primitive lineage.
Researchers have provisionally assigned the fossil to H. aff. erectus due to its similarities with Homo erectus, while leaving open the possibility that it represents a distinct species. This challenges prior assumptions about the Western European settlement by early hominins.
The discovery has uncovered artifacts such as stone tools and animal bones with cut marks, indicating that early humans engaged in butchery and used simple tools for processing food. Paleoecological analysis suggests that the Atapuerca region during the Lower Pleistocene was a diverse environment with forests, grasslands, and seasonal water sources.
The findings mark a major step forward in understanding human evolution in Europe and highlight the importance of the Atapuerca site as a key reference point for global paleoanthropological research. Further investigation is needed to answer questions about this group’s disappearance and potential coexistence with other hominins, such as Homo antecessor.
Source: https://archaeologymag.com/2025/03/oldest-human-face-in-western-europe-found-in-spain