Introduction to a New Human Ancestor
Most of a human face discovered in northern Spain has been identified as belonging to a primitive archaic human, marking the oldest known evidence of hominins in western Europe, according to anthropologists. The facial remains were announced on Wednesday and provide significant insights into human evolution.
A New Species Emerges
The facial fragments do not belong to Homo antecessor, an archaic human species whose roughly 900,000-year-old remains were previously found at the same site. Instead, the fragments belong to Homo affinis erectus, a finding reported in Nature, indicating that the human population in Europe turned over at the end of the Early Pleistocene. According to study co-author Rosa Huguet, a paleoanthropologist at the Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, "This paper introduces a new actor in the story of human evolution in Europe, Homo affinis erectus."
Significance of the Discovery
The Homo affinis erectus fragment was discovered in 2022 and is estimated to be between 1.1 million and 1.4 million years old, making it the earliest human fossil found in western Europe. The species’ name can be shortened to Homo aff. erectus, with "aff." coming from the Latin "affinis," meaning "related to." This indicates a species closely related to, but not necessarily the same as, Homo erectus, a human species that lived from about 2 million to 100,000 years ago and is believed to be one of our direct ancestors.
The "Pink" Fossil
The team has nicknamed the fossil "Pink," after Pink Floyd, referring to the band’s album The Dark Side of the Moon. The facial fragment, which was found among about 6,000 fossil remains, including animal bones with cut marks, belonged to an early human that predated the Homo antecessor remains on a site less than 820 feet away by about half a million years. This discovery reveals aspects of hominin migration and evolution further back in time than other hominin remains from Europe.
A Small Animal Rib with Cut Marks
[Image: A small animal rib with cut marks found on the site. Graphic: Nature / Maria D. Guillén / IPHES-CERCA.]Replacement in the European Population
According to José María Bermúdez de Castro, a CENIEH paleoanthropologist and co-author of the paper, "It’s evident that about one million years ago, there was a replacement in the European population." A species, possibly related to Homo erectus, would have given way to Homo antecessor. Homo aff. erectus has more primitive facial features, specifically in the area of the cheeks, than Homo antecessor, with the latter’s mid-face region bearing resemblance to our (Homo sapiens) features.
Distinct Facial Features
While our face and that of H. antecessor are vertical and flat, Homo aff. erectus‘ face projects forward, similar to Homo erectus specimens. This is why the team does not commit to labeling the individual Homo erectus but recognizes similarities with the more well-known hominid group.
The Next Challenge
The next challenge for the team is to find more fossils that clarify the identity of Homo aff. erectus, its relationship to other hominin species, and perhaps explain why the population gave way to Homo antecessor. The population is a "snapshot" of the groups that entered Europe when the climatic conditions allowed, according to Martinón-Torres.
A New Perspective on Human Evolution
"These populations are different from the earliest hominins that have been documented outside Africa," Martinón-Torres added, referring to the Dmanisi hominins from Georgia. The newly identified human group is "Somewhere in an evolutionary space in between the earliest hominins found outside Africa—represented by the Dmanisi hominins—and Homo antecessor."
The Archaeological Work at Sima del Elefante
[Image: The archaeological work at Sima del Elefante. Photo: Maria D. Guillén / IPHES-CERCA.]Recent Discoveries in Human Origins Research
It’s been a significant week for human origins research, with a team of paleoanthropologists finding evidence of similar behaviors in Neanderthal and early modern human groups that inhabited the Levant around 100,000 years ago. Neanderthals are also now gone, but they were such close relatives of our own species that the two groups interbred, and Neanderthal DNA persists in our genomes today.
Future Excavations
The team’s next steps are to continue excavating the Sima del Elefante site, where the Homo aff. erectus face was found. They have yet to work into the deepest layers of the site, which may hold more secrets about human evolution.
Conclusion
The discovery of Homo aff. erectus contributes to an increasingly remarkable and complex story of how our species emerged from a diversity of hominin groups and covered the Earth with a population of 8 billion strong. Though the newly described bone fragments do not totally resolve aspects of our evolutionary origins, they further complicate the narrative and provide significant insights into human evolution.
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