A fragmentary bone from a Spanish cave is the oldest human face ever found in western Europe. The bones are part of the cheek and upper jaw, and are between 1.1 million and 1.4 million years old.
The bones are substantially different from the next oldest hominin bones from the same area, suggesting two distinct groups of ancient humans lived in western Europe around a million years ago.
鈥淭his paper introduces a new actor in the story of human evolution in Europe,鈥� says at the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES-CERCA) in Tarragona, Spain.
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The bones were found in a cave called Sima del Elefante in the Atapuerca region of northern Spain. The area is riddled with caves that have yielded many ancient human remains. In 2008, and dated to 1.1 million to 1.2 million years ago.
Researchers led by Huguet continued excavating in the cave, and in 2022 they found a few pieces of hominin bone. When the team pieced them together, they turned out to be from the left side of the face: part of the cheekbone and part of the upper jaw, including pieces of the first two molar teeth.
The team has nicknamed the fossil 鈥淧ink鈥�. Officially, this is a reference to the rock band Pink Floyd and their album The Dark Side of the Moon, says at the National Research Center on Human Evolution (CENIEH) in Burgos, Spain. The Spanish word for 鈥渟ide鈥� is 鈥渃ara鈥�, which also means 鈥渇ace鈥�. However, among the researchers, the name refers to Rosa Huguet, as 鈥渞osa鈥� means 鈥減ink鈥�.
In the same layer, the team found three stone artefacts: a cobble tool made of quartz, and flakes of quartz and chert. They are Oldowan tools, which are 鈥渘ot very complex鈥�, says , also at IPHES-CERCA.
The team also found about 6000 animal bones, including from water voles, mice and hoofed mammals like bison. There was also evidence of trees and shrubs. 鈥淭hese hominins lived in an open, humid forest landscape with trees and water courses,鈥� says Huguet.
The new bones were found 2 metres deeper than the earlier jawbone. However, the team found the surrounding sediments were 1.1 million to 1.4 million years old 鈥� which is indistinguishable from the age of the jawbone. For this reason, 鈥渨e think that it is the same species鈥�, says , also at CENIEH.
Because they have so few bones, the researchers have decided not to make a firm claim about the species. They have assigned the bones to Homo aff. erectus 鈥� meaning they could be Homo erectus but they aren鈥檛 sure. 鈥淲e cannot be conclusive in assigning it or ruling it out,鈥� says Martin贸n-Torres. 鈥淚t may also belong to an entirely different species.鈥�
鈥淭hey are appropriately cautious,鈥� says at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. We have very few H. erectus faces, he says, so we don鈥檛 know how much they varied.
That uncertainty aside, Villmoare says Pink fits neatly into our understanding of ancient humans at this time. 鈥淚t鈥檚 basically what I would expect to find,鈥� he says.
The earliest hominins lived in Africa for millions of years. H. erectus is the earliest hominin that we know roamed outside Africa: there are multiple fossils from Dmanisi in Georgia from 1.8 million years ago. H. erectus soon made their way throughout southern Asia and as far east as Java, but they have never been found in western Europe.
After H. aff. erectus, hominins dubbed Homo antecessor lived in the Atapuerca region. , and have been dated to . H. antecessor faces are quite different from those of H. aff. erectus. 鈥淎 species possibly related to Homo erectus would have given way to Homo antecessor,鈥� says Berm煤dez de Castro.
Nature
Ancient caves, human origins: Northern Spain
Discover some of the world's oldest known cave paintings in this idyllic part of Northern Spain. Travel back 40,000 years to explore how our ancestors lived, played and worked. From ancient Paleolithic art to awe-inspiring geological formations, each cave tells a unique story that transcends time.
