This can be the oldest person in Western Europe

Researchers in Spain have brought to light the oldest known person in Western Europe, aged 1.1 to 1.4 million years, a fossil that is not excluded from an unknown member of the human family so far.

The fossil from the Sima del Elefante cave (« Trench of the Elephants ») in the archaeological site of Atapoureka includes a part of the left personal skull of an adult unknown sex.

The species to which it belongs is unclear. Researchers who sign the discovery in his Nature magazine attribute the temporary name « Homo AFFINIS erectus», A description that recognizes similarities to Homo erectusan ancestor of ours who appeared in Africa about 2 million years ago and soon expanded to Eastern Europe, as testified by 1.8 million years of fossils in Georgia.

To date, however, there are no other indications of his presence in the west of Epirus and the fossil in Spain has significant differences, such as the relatively delicate face.

In addition, facial anatomy shows more ‘primitive’ than Homo AnteCessora kind of similar appearance to the Homo sapienswhich we know that he lived in the area of ​​Atapoureka 850,000 years ago.

‘The average face of Homo Antecessor it looked modern and was very similar to the face of Homo Sapiens. On the contrary, the face from Sima del Elefante presents a combination of features, some of whom are reminiscent of Homo erectus And more not, « said Jose Marie Bermunda de Castro of the Human Development Center in Spain, the latest author of the publication.

Another possibility is to be an unknown representative of the Homo Gender to date. The researchers stressed that the finding is not enough to draw such a conclusion, but they said that this is possible.

The fossil in Sima del Elefante is about the same age as the earliest indications of human presence in Western Europe, stone tools that were also found in Spain and dated 1.4 million years. The new study leaves open the possibility of being made by the species found in the cave.

Answ