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In the summer of 2022, the team responsible for the archeological site of Atapuerca in Northeastern Spain announced a significant discovery. Archeologists found what appeared to be the oldest human face in Western Europe, dating back more than a million years.
More recently, researchers revealed further details about the fossilized remains.
Pink. A recent study published in Nature confirmed the initial estimates. According to archeologists who first discovered and studied the fossil, these are the oldest human remains ever found in Western Europe. Interestingly, they’ve named the individual “Pink,” although it’s officially cataloged as ATE7-1.
The most recent estimates date the remains to between 1.4 million and 1.1 million years ago. This means that the fossil is several hundred thousand years older than the previously known remains from the site, which belonged to a Homo antecessor around 860,000 years ago.
Homo affinis erectus. A key aspect that researchers still need to clarify is the species this individual belonged to. Recent research confirms that the individual didn’t belong to Homo antecessor, a species that other remains found in the Spanish cavern belong to. Instead, this specimen likely belonged to an older species, similar to Homo erectus. As such, the remains have been provisionally classified as Homo affinis erectus.
“Homo antecessor shares with Homo sapiens a more modern-looking face and a prominent nasal bone structure, whereas Pink’s facial features are more primitive, resembling Homo erectus, particularly in its flat and underdeveloped nasal structure,” lead researcher María Martinón-Torres explained in a press release.
Discovery. In June 2022, Edgar Téllez, a member of the Atapuerca Research Team, found the fragment on level TE7 at the Sima del Elefante cave site in Atapuerca.
Clues about the individual’s lifestyle. The TE7 level may provide important clues about the environment in which Pink lived. Archeologists have also recovered stone tools and animal remains with cut marks reportedly used by early inhabitants of Atapuerca and Europe.
According to the research team, these marks suggest that the inhabitants of Atapuerca in the Lower Pleistocene not only recognized the resources around them but also “systematically exploit[ed] them.”
A piece of an enormous puzzle. The finding is yet another fragment in the scientific community’s understanding of human evolution and the spread of several Homo species across the globe. According to experts, numerous waves of different species left their original home in Africa to migrate to Eurasia. However, their specific routes have remained elusive over time.
An important clue in this context comes from a distinct access route to Europe: the Caucasus region. A group of fossils found in Georgia had previously been the only evidence of Homo erectus’ movements outside of Africa. These fossils, which include five skulls dating back approximately 1.8 million years, represent the oldest hominin remains discovered beyond the African continent.
Although the Georgian fossils were classified as Homo erectus, there are some doubts regarding this classification due to notable differences in their characteristics. According to a Science paper, more than one species of Homo may have migrated from Africa during that period. The Atapuerca fossils also don’t strictly belong to this species. Will they provide a new clue that could help unravel this complex enigma?
Images | Sofia Khlebnikov | IPHES
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