Oldest Human Fossils In Western Europe Revealed To Date Back A Million Years
Oldest Human Fossils In Western Europe Revealed To Date Back A Million Years
Long before we set foot on the continent – and beating Neanderthals to it by hundreds of thousands of years – other species of ancient humans once stalked the forests of Europe. Now researchers have been able to concretely date the oldest human fossils ever found in Western Europe, and concluded that they are an impressive 1 million years old.
The fossils were discovered in a cave system in northern Spain, and had previously been attributed to the earliest known hominin species found in Europe, Homo antecessor. Using sediments, along with the bones of animals found alongside the human fossils, researchers were able to make an estimate of how old they thought they were, but a new study published in Quaternary Geochronology has given conclusive dates.
Using one of the teeth of the human fossils, a team of scientists from Spain, France, China, and Australia has dated the remains to between 772,000 and 949,000 years old, making them the oldest human remains ever found in Western Europe. A few hominin fossils that are believed to be older have been found at other sites, but none of them can be attributed to a specific species.
It is thought that Homo antecessor was the first human species to make it into Europe. Other ancient hominins had already migrated out of Africa – such as Homo erectus – but it is believed that they went east, eventually making it to China and Southeast Asia, where they were incredibly successful.
More:
http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/oldest-human-fossils-in-western-europe-revealed-to-date-back-a-million-years-/
