Spanish archeologists may have found the oldest human fossil in Europe last Friday

[Judi Lynn]

Alexandru Micu by Alexandru Micu July 11, 2022

Spanish archeologists associated with the non-profit Atapuerca Foundation report finding what could be the oldest human fossil ever found in Europe.

The discovery consists of a jawbone fragment that was discovered in the Atapuerca mountain range of northern Spain. Dating to roughly 1.4 million years ago, it could well be the oldest human fossil ever discovered in Europe, overtaking the current oldest fossil by around 0.2 million years, according to a press release on Friday (link in Spanish).

For now, the team is busy at work analyzing the jaw and refining the initial estimate of its age. Old bones
The Atapuerca mountain range contains some of the richest evidence of prehistoric human activity in the whole of Europe. They are so important for researchers studying this period in the evolution of humanity that the site at Sierra de Atapuerca was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This was after the discovery of a treasure trove of over 1,600 human fossils at the Sima de los Huesos (“Pit of the Bones”) site starting in 1992, and the discovery of two ancient human remains that were over 900,000 years old and defined a new species, Homo antecessor, in 1993. In 1999, a dedicated non-profit organization, the Atapuerca Foundation, was set up to further research and understanding of the human fossils in these mountains.

Until now, the oldest known human fossil in Europe was another jawbone discovered at the same site in 2007 and dated to around 1.4 million years old. The current jaw was unearthed at the same site on the 30th of June, at a depth of around two meters below the previous jawbone. Due to this position “it is logical and reasonable to think it is older,” says palaeoanthropologist Jose-Maria Bermudez de Castro, the co-director of the Atapuerca research project, during a news conference.

More:
https://www.zmescience.com/science/spanish-archeologists-oldest-human-bone-europe-9346353/