Fossil face bones discovered in Spanish cave may belong to first ancient humans in Western Europe
By Anna Salleh
ABC Science
Topic:Palaeontology
15m ago15 minutes agoWed 12 Mar 2025 at 7:34pm
Original fossil (ATE7-1) of the midface of a hominin.
Fragments of bones from a cheek, upper jaw, eye and nose, combined to form part of the left side of a human face. (Supplied: Maria D. Guillén/IPHES-CERCA)
In short:
Facial bones dated to between 1.4 and 1.1 million years old have been found in a cave in the Atapuerca mountains in Spain.
They are the oldest bones of their kind in Western Europe, and researchers say they belong to a species closer to the more primitive Homo erectus.
What's next?
While the discovery provides more evidence on the earliest human species to appear in Europe, more research is needed to settle how they got there from Africa.
Bone fragments discovered in the north of Spain are putting a face to the earliest human species to arrive in Western Europe.
The fossil remains, which were from a specimen nicknamed "Pink" — by researchers who were fans of the band Pink Floyd — have been dated to between 1.1 and 1.4 million years old.
They were unveiled today in the journal Nature.
"This fossil … represents the earliest human face of Western Europe identified to date," write the team, led by Rosa Huguet of the Catalan Institute of Human Palaeoecology and Social Evolution and the University of Rovira I Virgili.
Spain has the richest collection of early human fossils in Western Europe, and many are found in the numerous caves of the Atapuerca mountains.
In 2022, Dr Huguet and colleagues discovered fragments of bones from the cheek, upper jaw, eye and nose buried in a cave called the Sima del Elefante (Pit of the Elephant) in Atapuerca.
When pieced together, they formed part of the left side of an ancient human face.
The team had previously found a jawbone dated to roughly 1.2 million years ago from an unidentified hominin in shallower layers in the same cave but the newly discovered fossils gave a much clearer picture of the human species they belonged to.
And the findings surprised the researchers.
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The human part of the family tree — Homo — stretches back about 2 million years.
Homo erectus, which lived up until at least 250,000 years ago, was the first human species with body proportions like us modern humans (Homo sapiens) and walked upright.
Until now, the earliest identifiable ancient human uncovered in the Atapuerca region had been Homo antecessor ("pioneer man"), which was about 850,000 years old.
That species had a prominent nose, a feature apparent in modern humans.
But Pink appeared to have different facial features.
"The facial features of ATE7-1 [Pink] are more primitive, resembling Homo erectus, particularly in its flat and underdeveloped nasal structure," Dr Huguet said.
Looking down into a cave where fossils are being excavated.
The fossils were found in the Sima del Elefante (Pit of the Elephant) cave in Atapuerca. (Supplied: Maria D. Guillén/IPHES-CERCA)
Tantalising glimpses of Pink's face
Sadly, there are not enough bones to determine Pink's sex, or to develop a model or artist's impression of their face, said co-author Laura Martín-Francés of Monash University in Melbourne, and the National Human Evolution Research Centre in Spain.
A dental anthropologist who was involved Pink's reconstruction, Dr Martín-Francés said it would only be possible to draw Pink's face "from the nose down".
"Since we are missing the part of the forehead it is quite complicated to actually draw the rest of it."
An artist's impression of a 10-year-old Homo antecessor.
One famous skull of Homo antecessor belonged to 10-year-old child who lived 850,000 years ago. It was found at the Gran Dolina cave in Atapuerca during the 1990s. (Supplied: Tom Björklund)
Still, the team decided there was enough evidence to provisionally assign Pink to the species Homo affinis erectus, referring to its closeness to Homo erectus.
"We were unaware that another species could have existed in Western Europe … [around the same time H. antecessor was there]. But it has been a pleasant surprise to see that this is not the case," Dr Huguet said.
While Pink belonged to a population that could have arrived in Europe before H. antecessor, the researchers say it's too early to say whether the two species could have overlapped or not.
An insight into Pink's world
Remains of animals and plants collected at the site suggests Pink lived in a habitat that was much wetter and warmer than today's Atapuerca mountains, the researchers add.
"The environmental conditions around Sima del Elefante were an open, humid forest landscape with trees, shrubs, and watercourses, where Mediterranean-type plants such as hazels have been recovered," Dr Huguet said.
Atapuerco landscape in Spain showing woodland and grassland.
At a wetter and warmer time in history, the first Europeans roamed this landscape in northern Spain. (Supplied: Maria D. Guillén / IPHES-CERCA)
Other evidence suggested Homo aff. erectus would have made basic use of tools.
"Cobbles and flakes made of quartz and flint, both local materials … indicates they were likely used for processing animal meat," Dr Huguet said.
Adding to this is the discovery of a rib from a deer-like animal showing clear cut marks.
Rib of a small animal with cut marks.
A rib from a small animal found near the fossils showed cut marks. (Supplied: Nature/Maria D. Guillén/IPHES-CERCA)
'Very cool fossil'
La Trobe University archaeologist Andy Herries, who was not involved in the research, said there had been some debate over the distinction between H. antecessor and H. erectus.
"I know that some of my colleagues don't necessarily see antecessor as anything massively different from Homo erectus," said Professor Herries, who discovered the oldest H. erectus remains in Africa.
To complicate matters, he said, the H. antecessor fossil that Pink was compared to was a juvenile.
"Their morphology changes as they grow up and adapt, so we don't entirely know what an adult antecessor may have looked like."
But he said Pink was "a very cool fossil".
Two people carrying out archaeological excavation.
Archaeological excavation work in the Sima del Elefante by team members Dr Amèlia Bargalló (left) and Dr Xosé Pedro Rodríguez-Álvarez (right). (Supplied: Maria D. Guillén/IPHES-CERCA)
"Atapuerca is an absolutely stunning, stunning set of sites. Amazing discoveries," he said.
"Basically, what's been happening is that the age of the occupation of Europe has been pushing further and further back."
Such discoveries can provide clues to the possible routes humans took out of Africa to Europe.
The oldest ancient human fossils outside Africa so far are 1.8 million years old. Those fossils were discovered in Dmanisi, Georgia, considered to be the crossroads between Asia and Africa, Professor Herries said.
So did those ancient humans then make their way westwards to get to places like Spain?
Stone tools.
Stone tools found alongside Pink. (Supplied: Nature/Maria D. Guillén/IPHES-CERCA)
"Some people think that Europe was occupied from the Dmanisi direction," Professor Herries said.
Other experts suggest the comparative wealth of fossil evidence in Spain — with Pink adding to the haul — indicates ancient humans travelled to Europe from Africa more directly.
"Maybe hominins cross the Strait of Gibraltar into Spain."
Unfortunately, Professor Herries said, Pink didn't settle this debate.
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Posted15m ago15 minutes agoWed 12 Mar 2025 at 7:34pm
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