Discovery of oldest human bones ever re-writes story of human evolution in Europe
Some of the eldest bones ever discovered could reconstruct our understanding of mankind's history – the find 'introduces a new actor in the story of human evolution in Europe'
The oldest hominin facial bones discovered in western Europe have completely reconstructed our understanding of human migration in Europe.
The jawbone was discovered in the Sima del Elefante Site in the Sierra de Atapuerca, northern Spain, and has been dubbed “Pink” and skeletal remains don’t match those of Homo antecessor, a hominin species which was considered to be the first to reach Eurasia.
Experts have not confirmed hominin species that “Pink” belonged to yet but have noted the discovery “introduces a new actor in the story of human evolution in Europe.” Human species began migrating out of Africa to Eurasia at least 1.8 million years ago – however the first hominins to make this journey remains unclear.
This discovery of “Pink” helps to fill in some gaps in our knowledge of humanity’s journey out of Africa. The oldest discovery of hominin remains outside of Africa were discovered in Romania and Georgia – the fossils in Georthegia known as the 'Dmanisi remains' date back to 1.8 million years ago.
“Pink’s” remains date back 1.2 to 1.1-million-year-old and while the jawbone has not been assigned to a single hominin species yet experts believe it may belong to our famous evolutionary relative, Homo erectus.
Dr Rosa Huguet, who was behind the excavation of the site, said the discovery of the jaw bone: “Introduces a new actor in the story of human evolution in Europe, Homo affinis erectus. This finding allows us to assert that during the early Pleistocene more than one human species lived in Europe, and that the first hominid to inhabit Western Europe was not Homo antecessor as we previously believed."
Co-author of a recent study published in a recent study describing the find, Martinón-Torres, noted: “We cannot be conclusive with assigning it or even ruling out that it is Homo erectus,”
She added: “So Homo aff. erectus highlights this closeness to Homo erectus but leaves open the possibility that it may also belong to an entirely different species than Homo erectu.”
Despite being considerably older than the hominin species Homo antecessor – Homo antecessor remains dating back to 800,000 to 900,000 years ago – "Pink” also has radically different facial morphology than the hominin species.
Martinón-Torres elaborates on these differences in facial features and said: “Homo antecessor shares with Homo sapiens a more modern-looking face and a prominent nasal bone structure, whereas Pink’s facial features are more primitive, resembling Homo erectus, particularly in its flat and underdeveloped nasal structure.”
Martinón-Torres has affirmed that the team will continue to find more fossils that will: "Help us to fully understand who these hominins were, where they come from, how they related and interacted with later populations […] and what the eventual fate was.”