The oldest human face in Western Europe discovered in Spain

Researchers at Atapuerca Archaeological Sites in Burgos, Spain have just broken their own records by discovering the oldest human beings in Western Europe for the third time.

The team first excavated a new homoerist-level human body at the TD6 level at the Grand Lina Site in 1994. These fossils, which were about 900,000 years ago, challenged the previous concept that the earliest human existence in Western Europe is less than half a million years.

Beyond the numbers, the homoist had a surprisingly modern look. Gran Dorina Hinodo, despite its antiquity, displayed a flat face that closely resembles our own species, Homo sapiens. In the beautiful scientific paradox, the homoalleuser showed us the oldest face of modern humanity.

In 2007, Europe’s oldest human was once again discovered on the Simadel Elephante, a site less than 300 meters from Grandrina. This time, we found a human jawbone found at Level TE9 about 1.2 million years ago.

The new Jawbone, catalogued as ATE9-1, has many primitive features in the front of the jaw area and was held simultaneously. This is logical given its great age. However, within the symbiotic side, the bones were more vertical and slender than expected, especially compared to other modern humans.

Still, the fossils were too fragmentary to confirm or even exclude that they were not assigned to any species or belong to Homo Aristolou. Therefore, ATE9-1 is the term Homo Sp, which recognizes that it belongs to the genus HOMO. was categorized as, but accepted that the evidence available at the time was not even refined.

Without three, there are no two

In 2022, for all possibilities, the Sima Del Elefante site’s excavation team discovered the left half of the human face at level TE7. This fossil meant it was even older as it was found two and a half meters below the level at which the ATE9-1 Jawbone was found.

Over the next two years, our interdisciplinary and multicenter team challenged fossil research and recovery with significant support from the Catalan Institute for Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES) and the National Centre for Human Evolutionary Research (Cenieh).

Both classical methods and advanced imaging techniques were used, including X-ray microtomography. This allowed us to visualize the interior of the fossils and operate them digitally without touching them. This meant that the puzzle could be reconstructed and compared it to other specimens without access to the original fossils scattered around the world.

The new fossil was called “pink.” This hints at Pink Floyd’s album “Dark Side of the Moon.” The research team must also acknowledge that Rosa Huguet, a colleague of Rosa-Cerca, a researcher at Iphes-Cerca, coordinator of the research on the Sima Del Elefante site, and that Rosa is a researcher at Iphes-Cerca, the Spanish for “Pink” and that “Rosa” is a researcher at Iphes-Cerca, the lead author of the research published on “Rosa.”

Pink sturdy face

The main conclusion of studies published in nature is that pink does not belong to the species Homo Aristo Dusal. The new fossils clearly show a distinct difference in the more robust and forward-projected facial area from the slimmer face of Gran Dorina hinoids. Furthermore, in Pink, we believe that the nose area has been flattened and sunken, just like Homoerectus and other non-human primate species.

However, just as Pink has officially been cataloged, the ATE7-1 has a relatively narrow, short face shape, and more. There are also some characteristics that do not allow direct classification as erectus.

Given these features, the Atapuerca team decided to classify pink as “Homoa Finis Erectus” (H.aff, abbreviated as Erectus). This term is H. We recognize the similarity to erectus, but leave the possibility that it belongs to a completely different species.

The Value of Atapuerca

This finding reveals the existence of human species that have not been recorded in Europe until now. European Pleistocene family photo albums previously included H. antedexeror, neanderthals, and modern humans. We can now add slightly blurry photos of new relatives in the hopes of further research and fossils making it a more keen focus.

This discovery also leads to a reflection on what we can and what research should be done. There is no doubt that Atapuerca is a very rich archaeological and paleontological site. For years, Burgos caves have shown the ability to steal evidence for all periods of Europe inhabited, but have shown all periods of each.

Lucky has a role to play for Attapuerca, but what makes it a very important area is tenacity and commitment. There is nothing left by chance. Sites are proof that taking science seriously will result. For research at Atapuerca to flourish, it took time and constant dedication, both from researchers and institutions that support them and ensure their sustainability.

We hope this achievement will give us the encouragement we need to continue to look at our new perspective.

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