It鈥檚 being called 鈥渢he first European鈥� 鈥� rather a grand tag for a fragmentary jawbone and some worn teeth. Nevertheless, fossils have been unearthed in northern Spain that are 1.1 to 1.2 million years old and have been assigned to one of our hominin ancestors.
The fragments are 300,000 years older than any previously found in Europe.
Jos茅 Mar铆a Berm煤dez de Castro at the in Burgos, Spain, is a member of the research team that made the discovery at the Sima del Elefante cave site in the Sierra de Atapuerca.
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He says that, although the new find pushes back the hominin fossil record in Europe, there is indirect evidence that hominins arrive in Europe even earlier.
鈥淸Stone tools from] Pirro Nord in Italy may be older than Sima del Elefante,鈥� he says. 鈥淟ikewise, the Barranco Le贸n and Fuente Nueva 3 Spanish sites have yielded stone tools probably 1.3 million years old.鈥�
Georgian origins?
But the association of fossil remains with stone tools at the new site is important, says at the Rovira i Virgili University in Tarragona, Spain, who led the research team.
鈥淲e have human remains, stone tools and bones with cut marks,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all very consistent with occupation here 1.1 million years ago.鈥�
Carbonell says the fragmentary remains have been tentatively assigned to the species Homo antecessor, also known from 800,000 year-old remains at Gran Dolina in Spain and Ceprano in Italy.
鈥淥ur hypothesis is that antecessor is derived from Homo georgicus, found at Dmanisi, Georgia, in 1.8 million year-old deposits,鈥� he says.
Chris Stringer, a palaeoanthropologist at the in London, UK,, who was not involved with the study, is more cautious. 鈥淓ven if antecessor is a valid species, we don鈥檛 know where it originated,鈥� he says.
鈥楾ropical鈥� primates
The Dmanisi hominins are the earliest found outside Africa, says Berm煤dez de Castro.
鈥淚n my view, after that first demographic spread out of Africa, a rapid expansion to the east and west could happen,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t is very probable that hominins arrived in the extreme parts of the Eurasian continent by 1.6 million years.鈥�
Warm and humid conditions at the time helped speed up the migration, Berm煤dez de Castro thinks. 鈥淚t is important to remember that we are 鈥榯ropical鈥� primates,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he Sierra de Atapuerca is 1000 metres above sea level. So we assume the climate was warmer than today when hominins arrived there.鈥�
Because the fossil record is so patchy around one million years ago, the best evidence for hominin activity comes from the stone tools, says Carbonell.
鈥淭he interesting thing is that, in Africa at this time, the stone tools are 鈥楳ode 2鈥�,鈥� he says. Mode 2 tools included classic hand-axes that are not found in Mode 1 industries. 鈥淚n Europe, we only have Mode 1 鈥� at that moment the Africans were more developed than the Europeans.鈥�
Journal ref: (DOI: 10.1038/nature06815)
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