Belonged to the oldest human ancestor in Western Europe: unique skull discovered in Spain

In northern Spain, in 2022, the remains of a human skull were found, which, according to scientists, are the oldest ever discovered in Western Europe. According to archaeologists, the age of this fossil is between 1.1 and 1.4 million years.

The researchers hope that this discovery will help to better understand who the first settlers of the region were in the early Pleistocene. At the same time, they emphasize that the available knowledge about this period in Western Europe has so far been focused mainly on the Iberian Peninsula. The findings are presented in a new study published in the journal Nature, Fox News reports.

Despite the fact that even more ancient remains of human ancestors were once found in Georgia, this Spanish fossil was the first evidence that our distant ancestors could already migrate deep into Europe in those days. Rick Potts, director of the Smithsonian's Human Origins Program, told the Associated Press. At the same time, he noted that there is no evidence that these first people stayed in European territories for a long time. According to him, they could travel, explore new places, but eventually died out.

As one of the authors of the study, Rosa Uge, explained, the remains found have similar features to the well-known species Homo erectus. However, certain anatomical differences were also found in their structure. According to Potts, Homo erectus appeared about two million years ago and spread from Africa to Asia and Europe. The last representatives of this species went extinct about 100 thousand years ago.

Meanwhile, Christoph Zollikofer, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Zurich, emphasized that it is currently difficult to determine with certainty which group of early humans these remains belong to. He explained that more bones are needed for a more accurate analysis, because one cranial fragment does not give a complete picture.

Earlier, archaeologists reported other significant discoveries. In particular, the remains of the mammal Mixodectes pungens, which lived 62 million years ago and can be considered one of the distant relatives of humans, were discovered in western North America. A huge network of water channels was also discovered under the world's oldest city. Thanks to satellite imagery and drone research, about two hundred main canals were identified that were once connected to the ancient Euphrates Riverbed.

If you want to get the latest news about the war and events in Ukraine, subscribe to our Telegram channel!