Earliest human face fossil from Western Europe, nicknamed "Pink," discovered in Spanish pit
By Kerry Breen
March 12, 2025 / 3:15 PM EDT / CBS News
Researchers in Spain have unearthed a fossil from a potential new prehistoric member of the human family tree, and they say it's the earliest known remnants of a face discovered in Western Europe.
The facial bones from an adult were found at the Atapuerca archaeological site in northern Spain in 2022. Since then, a team of scientists has been working to learn more about the hominin, whom they nicknamed Pink. The researchers shared their findings in a study in the journal Nature, which was published on Tuesday.
Pink's remains have been dated as between 1.1 and 1.4 million years old, the researchers said.
The research "introduces a new actor in the history of human evolution in Europe," study author Rosa Huguet, of Spain's University of Rovira i Virgili, said at a news conference, according to the AFP news agency.
The discovery suggests that early humans settled in Europe, traveling from the east side of the continent to the west, about 1.4 million years ago, the researchers said. Until now, the oldest-known human species in Western Europe was the Homo antecessor. Experts have found Homo antecessor remains that are around 850,000 years old.
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https://www.cbsnews.com/news/earliest-human-face-western-europe-pink-new-species/