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Oudste menselijk gezicht in West-Europa infographic
Graphic shows details of the discovery.
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Oudste menselijk gezicht in West-Europa ontdekt

By Jordi Bou

March 12, 2025 - Scientists in Spain have discovered facial bones from a hominin dating to between 1.1 and 1.4 million years ago that represents the earliest human face identified in Western Europe to date.

It is believed that Eurasia was settled following the initial expansion of hominins out of Africa at least 1.8 million years ago, as evidenced by hominin remains found at the Dmanisi site in the Republic of Georgia.

However, evidence of early hominin presence in Western Europe has been scarce, consisting mainly of highly fragmented fossil samples from the Iberian Peninsula, offering little insight into their appearance and classification.

A study published in Nature, led by Dr. Rosa Huguet from the Catalan Institute for Human Palaeoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES-CERCA), announces the discovery of fossilized remains from the left side of an adult hominin at the Sima del Elefante site in Atapuerca, northern Spain.

A detailed examination of the fossil, designated ATE7-1, reveals that it does not belong to Homo antecessor, a species identified at a nearby site and dated to around 860,000 years ago, but instead represents a more primitive hominin.

Although the remains share some traits with the Homo erectus lineage, researchers have not been able to definitively place them within this group. As a result, they have provisionally classified the fossil as H. aff. erectus, indicating an affinity with H. erectus while awaiting further evidence.

This discovery suggests that ATE7-1 belonged to a population that reached Europe in an earlier migration wave than H. antecessor, confirming that at least two different hominin species inhabited Western Europe during the Early Pleistocene.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 12/03/2025; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: Nature, IPHES
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