Researchers in Spain have found a fossil of a new potential prehistoric member of the human family tree, and they say that it is the first known remains of a face discovered in Western Europe.
The adult’s facial bones were found on the archaeological site of Atapuerca in northern Spain in 2022. Since then, a team of scientists has worked to learn more about hominin, which they have nicknamed Pink. The researchers shared their results in a study of the journal Naturewhich was published on Tuesday.
Pink’s remains were dated between 1.1 and 1.4 million years, the researchers said.
The research “presents a new actor in the history of human evolution in Europe,” said the author of the Rosa Huguet study of the Spanish University of Rovira I Virgili, during a press conference, according to the AFP news agency.
The discovery suggests that the first humans settled in Europe, traveling from the east of the continent to the west, about 1.4 million years ago, the researchers said. Until now, the oldest human species in Western Europe was the Homo Antécessor. Experts found Homo Antécessor Remain that is about 850,000 years old.
Maria D. Guillen / Iphus-Cerca
The oldest human ancestor found in any area in Europe is the Dmanisi people, or Homo GeorgicusA group that lived in what is now the Georgia nation. The remains of this species are dated 1.8 million years ago. They are the first members of the human family known to have traveled from Africa in Europe.
The face of “Rose”
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 1000 Feet from where the fossil of Homo history were discovered in 1994. The bones were not enough for the researchers to determine the age or sex of Pink.
Maria D. Guillen / Iphus-Cerca
From these fossilized bones, the researchers were able to use 3D imaging techniques to create a pink face model. The face is more “projected forward and more robust” than a modern human face or a Homo Antécessor Faced, Maria Martinon-Torres, director of the National Research Center in Spain on human evolution, told AFP.
Credit: Maria D. Guillen / Iphus-Cerca / Elena Santos / Cenieh
Pink’s face has similarities with the human ancestor Homo erectus, have said researchers. This species lasted almost 2 million years and was the first human species to evolve More familiar human body proportions and use fires and tools. Remains of the species have been found in Africa, Asia and Europe.
But the similarities were not strong enough for scientists to confirm that pink was a member of this species. Instead, they proposed that pink could belong to a possible new species, which they called Homo ‘Affinis’ Erectus.
“This is the most honest proposal we can make with the proofs we have,” said Martinon-Torres, according to AFP.
Scientists were also able to analyze small stone tools and animal bones found on the excavation site to find out more about how pink lived. The environment at the time was a wet forest landscape, and the first human population lived alongside horses, ancient cattle, monkeys and hippopotamia, the researchers said. The region also had a lot of water, which would have made it an “ideal” place for the species to settle down, said Huguet at the press conference.
Researchers suggested that the species could be a bridge between the Homo Georgicus species and Homo Antécessor species. The study co-author, Jose Maria Bermudez de Castro, told AFP that he was probably that the species “probably disappeared” during a serious global cooling era that occurred almost 900,000 years ago.
Research on the excavation site will continue, said scientists.
contributed to this report.
