Latest news with #Homoantecessor
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
An Archaeologist Found a 1 Million-Year-Old Face
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." Fragments of human facial bones that surfaced in northern Spain have been found to be 1.1 to 1.4 million years old, meaning that they are parts of the oldest human face in Western Europe. The individual, now called 'Pink,' is thought to be more primitive than Homo antecessor—a hominin which lived in the area 800,000 to 900,000 years ago—and closer to Homo erectus. Similarities between Pink and Homo erectus prompted scientists to give this new individual the name Homo 'affinis' erectus, though further research needs to be done to determine more about this face's morphology. When a fragment of a skull emerged from a cave in northern Spain, archaeologist Rosa Huguet was almost certain it came from a human ancestor. What she didn't know at the time of the excavation was that she was coming face to face (pun intended) with the most ancient human visage in Western Europe. Huguet nicknamed the hominin 'Pink.' The oldest faces on the European continent—which are also the most ancient outside of Africa—were unearthed in Dmanisi, Georgia, and belong to five 1.8 million-year-old skulls from a hominin group known as Homo georgicus, which is thought to be closely related to Homo erectus. When early humans arrived in the western part of Europe was less certain, until now. The cheek and upper jawbone fragments that Huguet and her team found in 2022 (and have been investigating since then) are between 1.1 and 1.4 million years old, making them the oldest human fossils in Western Europe. 'This finding enables us to not only learn about the facial morphology of early Europeans, but also increase our knowledge of the evolutionary history of our ancestors in Europe,' she said in a study recently published in Nature. Before this discovery, the Iberian Peninsula was still the only region with any evidence of early human migration to Western Europe. The only other artifacts this ancient were a 1.1 miillion-year-old hominin jawbone (found at the same site in 2007), a slightly older tooth and finger bone from nearby, and several stone tools. But these had little to tell about human settlement and activity during the Early Pleistocene. The next oldest human fossils are Homo antecessor bones (about 800,000 to 900,000 years old). These were also excavated from the site at which Pink was uncovered—known as Sima del Elefante—and Huguet observed that their facial morphology is much closer to that of modern humans than Pink's was. Homo antecessor shows an obvious difference in the section of bone just below the eye socket, which 'slopes down and backwards just like Homo sapiens,' as Huguet said in the study. The same part of Pink's face slopes forward, which is considered to be more primitive. Something else that stood out about Pink was the side of the face, which was less arched than that of Homo antecessor. The upper jaw of Homo antecessor showed a bend that Pink's upper jawbone did not have. Pink also had a flatter nose and was missing a hollow area below the eye, and all these differences led Huguet to conclude that she was looking at a hominin further removed from modern humans than Homo did this face compare to Homo erectus and the Georgian skulls? Both of these hominins had pronounced differences from Pink on the sides of the face, with cheekbones that protruded outward more. Pink also had a narrower face than Homo erectus fossils from Africa and Asia. Despite this, it is still thought that Pink is closer to these faces than Homo antecessor, and is possibly a new hominin species that is now being called Homo 'affinis' erectus—a hominin close to Homo Erectus. There are, literally and otherwise, many pieces missing from Pink's history. The researchers think that the hominin may fall somewhere in between Homo georgicus and Homo antecessor. It is also possible that Homo affinis erectus and Homo antecessor coexisted for a while, or that Pink's species vanished entirely before Homo antecessor appeared. Huguet plans on continuing with her research. Either way, Pink is giving prehistoric Western Europe a new face. You Might Also Like The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life?
Yahoo
16-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Europe's oldest human face found in Atapuerca: 'We may be looking at a new species'
Spanish researchers have found the remains of a facial fragment in Atapuerca, in northern Spain, which has been identified as the oldest known face in Western Europe, with an age of between 1.1 and 1.4 million years. The study, published in the journal 'Nature' and led by IPHES-CERCA, has revealed this key discovery about the first human migrations in Europe. The fossil, unearthed in 2022 and nicknamed 'Pink' in a nod to the leader of the project, Dr Rosa Huguet and the group Pink Floyd, belongs to a species of hominid more primitive than 'Homo antecessor'. Related How three young explorers uncovered a T. rex fossil in North Dakota After an exhaustive analysis, the scientists attribute the fragment to 'Homo affinis erectus', a species close to 'Homo erectus', although the classification is not yet definitive, which leaves open the possibility that it is a population not yet identified in Europe. "It is possible that we are dealing with a different species, a new species that is not a 'Homo erectus'. What we do know at the moment is that it resembles 'Homo erectus' and that it is clearly different from the species we have known so far in Europe," Xosé Pedro Rodríguez-Álvarez, a specialist in the lithic industry and co-author of the study, told Euronews. The team of scientists, led by researcher Rosa Huguet of IPHES-CERCA, has pointed out that this finding is a key piece in understanding the evolution of humans on the continent. The discovery is especially relevant, as it places the arrival of these first populations in Europe before the 'Homo antecessor', whose remains date back approximately 860,000 years. "There are examples of 'Homo erectus' in Asia and Africa, but on the European continent until now a human with these characteristics so similar to the 'Homo erectus' of other continents had not been discovered, " says researcher Xosé Pedro Rodríguez-Álvarez. This is the third time that Spanish scientists have broken their own world record by finding the oldest human in Western Europe. The first major discovery took place in the 1990s, when the remains of an unpublished human species, 'Homo antecessor', were dug up at the Gran Dolina site. "When the fossils of 'Homo antecessor' were found at the Gran Dolina in 1994, it was already clear that they were different from all the species known until then, and in the end it was decided to create a new species, which was published in 1997," says Rodríguez-Álvarez. Related Archaeologists discover intact 90,000-year-old human footprints on Moroccan beach These fossils, some 900,000 years old, surprised the scientific community, as they challenged the idea that the first humans in Western Europe were no more than 500,000 years old. In addition, 'Homo antecessor' had surprisingly modern facial features, with a flat face structure that resembled that of 'Homo sapiens'. "Later, in 2007, we also discovered in the Sima del Elefante, but in an archaeological layer above it, a human mandible dated at about 1.2 million years ago," adds the researcher. This fossil exhibited primitive features in the chin area, although its internal structure showed unexpectedly elegant characteristics. In addition to the facial fragment, the researchers have found stone tools and cut marks on animal bones, suggesting that these early Europeans were already using lithic technology to hunt and process meat, adapting effectively to their environment. The landscape at the time, in the Lower Pleistocene, combined forests, grasslands and water sources, providing abundant resources for these early populations. "They are simple tools that were made using rocks that can be found very close to the site, mainly flint quartz and limestone, which are local rocks (...) We can relate these tools to their use to make use of the ballistic resources of the sierra," explains the co-author of the research. The cut marks identified on the animal remains found show clear evidence of the use of these tools to flesh animal carcasses, according to Rodríguez-Álvarez. "What they were probably doing was butchering small animals, because apart from the tools, we have also found around 6,000 animal bones in that layer," he adds. The Atapuerca sites, considered a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000, contain the oldest and most numerous remains in Europe, and the discoveries that have been made there have had a great impact on science. "We have two different sites with very ancient human fossils ranging from 850,000 to more than 1,100,000 years old in a fairly small space of about 20 square kilometres," says the scientist. This finding not only strengthens Atapuerca's role as a global reference in the study of human evolution, but also opens up new questions about the diversity of hominids that inhabited Europe in ancient times. Atapuerca researchers consider this discovery to be a significant step towards understanding the origins of humanity on the old continent. "There are other sites in France and Italy that are between 1,000,000 and 1,100,000 years old. The difference is that there are no human fossils there. The only human fossils from the Lower Pleistocene, that is, the only human fossils older than 800,000 years in Europe, are all in the Iberian Peninsula, in Atapuerca," he says. It is hoped that future studies and excavations will continue to shed light on how the different migratory waves and early human populations shaped the evolutionary history of the genus 'Homo' in Europe. "To propose to the scientific community the existence of a new species, you have to have a lot of fossils. You have to do very deep studies, and now we are talking about only one, which is very interesting and very representative, but it is only a fragment of a face. We would need many more fossils to be able to say for sure that it resembles 'Homo erectus', but that it is different," concludes the scientist.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Western Europe's oldest human face discovered in Spain
The research team at the Atapuerca archaeological sites in Burgos, Spain, has just broken its own record by discovering, for the third time, the oldest human in Western Europe. The team did so for the first time in 1994, when they unearthed the remains of a new human species, which they named Homo antecessor, at the TD6 level of the Gran Dolina site. These fossils, dated to around 900,000 years ago, challenged the previous notion that the earliest human presence in Western Europe was no older than half a million years. Beyond the numbers, Homo antecessor also had a surprisingly modern-looking face. The Gran Dolina hominids exhibited a flat face that was, despite their antiquity, very similar to that of our own species, Homo sapiens. In a beautiful scientific paradox, Homo antecessor showed us the oldest face of modern humanity. In 2007, in the Sima del Elefante (Pit of the Elephant), a site no more than 300 metres from the Gran Dolina, the oldest human in Europe was found once again. This time it was a human jawbone, found in level TE9, dated to approximately 1.2 million years ago. The new jawbone, catalogued as ATE9-1, had a number of primitive features in the anterior part of the chin region and symphysis, which is logical given its great age. However, on the inner surface of the symphysis, the bone was vertical and more slender than expected, especially in comparison with other contemporary hominids. Even so, the fossil was too fragmentary to be assigned to any species, or even to confirm or rule out its belonging to Homo antecessor. ATE9-1 was therefore classified as Homo sp., a term which recognised its belonging to the genus Homo, but also accepted our inability to refine it further with the evidence available at the time. In 2022, against all odds, the excavation team at the Sima del Elefante site discovered the left half of a hominid face from level TE7. This fossil was found two and a half metres below the level where the ATE9-1 jawbone had been found, which meant that it was even older. Over the following two years, our interdisciplinary and multi-institutional team – with substantial support from the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES) and the National Centre for the Investigation of Human Evolution (CENIEH) – devoted itself to studying and restoring the fossil. We used both classical methods and advanced imaging techniques, including X-ray microtomography, which allowed us to visualise the interior of the fossils and manipulate them digitally without having to touch them. This meant we were able to reconstruct the puzzle, and compare it with other specimens without having to access the original fossils, which are scattered all over the world. The new fossil was nicknamed 'Pink', an allusion to Pink Floyd's album The Dark Side of the Moon, which translates into Spanish as 'La cara oculta de la luna' – 'cara oculta' means 'hidden face'. I must also admit that the research team adopted this name in recognition of our colleague Rosa Huguet, researcher at IPHES-CERCA, coordinator of the work at the Sima del Elefante site, and the lead author of the study, published in the journal Nature – 'Rosa' is Spanish for 'pink'. The main conclusion of study just published in Nature is that Pink does not belong to the species Homo antecessor. The new fossil presents clear differences in the facial area, which is more robust and projected forward, in clear contrast with the slender face of the Gran Dolina hominids. Furthermore, we believe that in Pink the nose area was flattened and sunken, similar to that of the species Homo erectus and other non-human primates. However, ATE7-1, as Pink was officially catalogued, also has some characteristics that do not allow us to classify it directly as H. erectus, such as its comparatively narrower and shorter face shape. In view of these features, the Atapuerca team has decided to classify Pink as 'Homo affinis erectus' (abbreviated as H. aff. erectus). This term recognises its similarities to H. erectus, but leaves open the possibility that it may belong to another species altogether. This discovery reveals the existence of a human species that, until now, had not been documented in Europe. The European Pleistocene family photo album previously included H. antecessor, Neanderthals and modern humans. We can now add the slightly blurred photograph of a new relative, in the hope that further studies and more fossils will bring it into sharper focus. The discovery also leads us to reflect on the research that can and should be done. There is no doubt that Atapuerca is an exceptionally rich archaeological and palaeontological site. For years now, the caves in Burgos have shown their ability to capture evidence, however scarce and fragmentary, of each and every one of the periods in which Europe was inhabited. While luck does have a part to play in Atapuerca it is, above all else, tenacity and commitment that have made it such a significant area. Nothing is left to chance, and the site is proof that when you take science seriously, it yields results. In order for research in Atapuerca to prosper, it has taken time and constant dedication, both from the researchers and from the institutions that support it and ensure its sustainability. Let us hope that this achievement will give us the encouragement we need to continue to look towards new horizons. Este artículo fue publicado originalmente en The Conversation, un sitio de noticias sin fines de lucro dedicado a compartir ideas de expertos académicos. Lee mas: We modelled how early human ancestors ran – and found they were surprisingly slow The first Europeans reached Ukraine 1.4 million years ago – new research How a giant prehistoric elephant skull helped untangle an evolutionary mystery The excavation and research team at Atapuerca receives funding from the Castille and León Department of Culture and Tourism, the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (PID2021-122355NB-C31, C32, C33 MCIN/ AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ FEDER, EU), and the Atapuerca Foundation.
CNN
12-03-2025
- Science
- CNN
Cave discovery reveals earliest known human fossils in Western Europe
Summary Fossil fragments found in a cave in northern Spain reveal a previously unknown human population that lived over 1.1 million years ago. The partial skull represents the earliest known human fossils discovered in Western Europe, according to new research. Scientists suspect the remains belong to Homo erectus, though they cannot make a definitive species identification. Researchers used advanced imaging techniques to analyze the fossils. The story of human evolution in Europe has a new character. Fossilized bone fragments unearthed in a cave in northern Spain in 2022 have revealed a previously unknown human population that lived more than 1.1 million years ago, according to new research. Found at the Sima del Elefante site in the Atapuerca Mountains, the fossils make up a partial skull comprised of the left side of the face of an adult hominin. The mineralized bones are the earliest human fossil remains found so far in Western Europe. However, it wasn't immediately obvious which species of prehistoric human the team had found, and the study describing the fossils, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, doesn't put forward a definitive answer. The team suspects the specimens belonged to Homo erectus, a species well-known from fossils found in Africa and Asia but whose remains have never been conclusively found in Europe. 'This conclusion is the most honest proposal we can make with evidence we have,' María Martinón-Torres, the director of CENIEH, Spain's National Human Evolution Research Centre, told a press briefing on Tuesday. 'It is cautious, but it is also a little bit daring, because we are not closing the possibility that it is maybe something different.' Mysterious early human relatives The mountainous region of Spain where the fossils were found has been an important locale for paleoanthropology. In the mid-1990s, scientists identified an early human relative known as Homo antecessor from about 80 fossils uncovered at a site near Sima del Elefante called Gran Dolina. Those remains date to around 850,000 years old. However, Martinón-Torres said the morphology of the skull fossil found in 2022 didn't match up with the features of Homo antecessor. This archaic human had been thought to be the earliest known inhabitant of Western Europe, predating the Neanderthals, who appeared on the continent some 400,000 years ago. Homo antecessor had 'a very modern-like face, very similar to the face we our species, Homo sapiens, have, which is vertical and flat. However, this new hominin is different,' she said. It 'has a much more projecting forward face … which makes it similar to other Homo erectus (specimens),' she added. The team also reanalyzed a partial lower jawbone found in 2007 at Sima del Elefante but at a slightly higher level of sediment. The study authors now believe it belonged to the same population of prehistoric humans. However, with only small parts of the face, it was impossible to identify the species of hominin conclusively. As such, the team has assigned it to Homo affinis erectus, with affinis meaning akin to, to indicate that the fossil is closely related to, but distinct from, a known species. 'We still have to excavate the lower levels of Sima del Elefante. So who knows? We may have more surprises,' Martinón-Torres said. 'I think the key finding is that we are documenting for the first time a hominin population that we did not know we had in Europe.' Detective work Chris Stringer, a research leader in human evolution at London's Natural History Museum, said the discovery was a 'very important find.' 'The facial shape is distinct from that of antecessor (and H. sapiens) in traits like the less prominent nose and less delicate cheekbones, and thus more closely resembles some erectus fossils,' Stringer, who wasn't involved in the research, said via email. 'But I think the authors are right to only cautiously relate the finds from Elefante to the species H. erectus. They are too incomplete for any definitive conclusion.' Reconstructing the fragmented face fossil required combining traditional techniques, such as analyzing and comparing the fossils by visual inspection, with advanced imaging and 3D analysis, the study said. The researchers did not directly date the fossils but, based on three different ways of dating the layer of sediment in which the fossils embedded, they estimated they were between 1.4 million and 1.1 million years old. The team also recovered animal bones with cut marks and stone tools used to butcher carcasses from the site. The population would have inhabited a woodland environment with wet grasslands, which would have been rich in prey, the study said.
CBS News
12-03-2025
- Science
- CBS News
Earliest human face fossil from Western Europe, nicknamed "Pink," discovered in Spanish pit
Researchers in Spain have unearthed a fossil from a potential new prehistoric member of the human family tree, and they say it's the earliest known remnants of a face discovered in Western Europe. The facial bones from an adult were found at the Atapuerca archaeological site in northern Spain in 2022. Since then, a team of scientists has been working to learn more about the hominin, whom they nicknamed Pink. The researchers shared their findings in a study in the journal Nature, which was published on Tuesday. Pink's remains have been dated as between 1.1 and 1.4 million years old, the researchers said. The research "introduces a new actor in the history of human evolution in Europe," study author Rosa Huguet, of Spain's University of Rovira i Virgili, said at a news conference, according to the AFP news agency. The discovery suggests that early humans settled in Europe, traveling from the east side of the continent to the west, about 1.4 million years ago, the researchers said. Until now, the oldest-known human species in Western Europe was the Homo antecessor. Experts have found Homo antecessor remains that are around 850,000 years old. The oldest human ancestor found in any area of Europe is the Dmanisi people, or Homo georgicus, a group that lived in what is now the nation of Georgia. Remains of that species have been dated back to 1.8 million years ago. They are the first members of the human family known to have traveled from Africa to Europe. The face of "Pink" The fossilized upper jawbone and partial cheekbone were excavated from a 52-foot-deep layer of silt and mud at Sima del Elefante, or the "elephant pit," a site less than 1,000 feet from where the fossils of Homo antecessor were discovered in 1994. The bones were not enough for researchers to determine Pink's age or gender. From those fossilized bones, researchers were able to use 3D imaging techniques to create a model of Pink's face. The face is more "projected forward and more robust" than a modern human face or a Homo antecessor face, Maria Martinon-Torres, director of Spain's National Research Center on Human Evolution, told the AFP. Pink's face bears some similarities to the human ancestor Homo erectus, researchers said. That species spanned nearly 2 million years and was the first human species to evolve more familiar human body proportions and use fire and tools. Remains of the species have been found in Africa, Asia and Europe. But the similarities weren't strong enough for the scientists to confirm that Pink was a member of that species. Instead, they have proposed that Pink could belong to a new possible species, which they called Homo 'affinis' erectus. "This is the most honest proposal we can make with the evidence we have," Martinon-Torres said, according to AFP. The scientists were also able to analyze small stone tools and animal bones found at the excavation site to learn more about how Pink lived. The environment at the time was a humid forest landscape, and the early human population lived alongside horses, ancient cattle, monkeys and hippos, the researchers said. The area also likely had plenty of water, which would have made it an "ideal" place for the species to settle, Huguet said in the news conference. The researchers suggested that the species may be a bridge between the Homo georgicus species and the Homo antecessor species. Study co-author Jose Maria Bermudez de Castro told the AFP that it's likely the species "probably disappeared" during a severe global cooling era that occurred nearly 900,000 years ago. Research at the excavation site will continue, the scientists said.
