A fragment of a face from a human ancestor is the oldest in Western Europe, according to the results of a new study published this week.
Incomplete skull – part of the left bone of the page and upper jaw – was found in northern Spain in 2022 and published in Nature magazine on Wednesday.
Archaeologists believe the fossil is between 1.1 million and 1.4 million years old.
Researchers hope that the discovery will provide some new knowledge about the first Western European inhabitants during the early Pleistocene era. Most of the information available from Western Europe is bounded on the Iberian Peninsula.
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This photo provided by the Catalan Institute of Paleoecology and Social Evolution in March 2025 shows the work of archaeological excavation at Sima Sima emerges in Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain, where a fossil was found by a homin between 1.1 million and 1.4 million years old. (Maria D. Guillén/iphes-Cerca through AP)
While a collection of older fossils from early human ancestors was previously found in the land of George, the Spanish fossil is the first proof that clearly shows that human ancestors “were receiving excursions to Europe” at the time, Rick Pots, director of the Smithsonian human origin program, told the Associated Press.
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Still, there is no evidence that the earliest arrivals stayed there long, Pots said, noting that they may have entered other places and then died.
This image provided by the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution in March 2025 shows a fossil of the left midfield of a hominin, right, between 1.1 million and 1.4 million years old, recovered by Sima Del Elephant in Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain, and a reflected simulation of other side. (Maria D. Guillén/Iphes-Cerca, Elena Santos/Cenih through AP)
Partial skull holds similarities to Homo Erektus, but there are also some anatomical differences, said study co -author Rosa Huguet, an archaeologist at the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and social evolution on terragona, Spain.
This photo provided by the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution in March 2025, says Dr. Rosa Huguet, a researcher at IPHES-CERCA and professor in Rovira i Virgili University, with a Hominin fossil between 1.1 million and 1.4 million years old, found in an archaeological site in Spain. (Maria D. Guillén/iphes-Cerca through AP)
Homo Erektus rose about 2 million years ago and moved from Africa to the Regions of Asia and Europe, with the latest individuals dying about 100,000 years ago, Pots said.
This image provided by the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution in March 2025 shows a fossil of the left midfield of a Homini between 1.1 million and 1.4 million years old, recovered by Sima Del Elephant in Sierra De Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain. (Maria D. Guillén/iphes-Cerca through AP)
It can be challenging to identify which group of early people a fossil finding whether there is only a single fragment versus many bones that show a number of features, said the University of Zuristoph Zolikofer, who was not involved in the study.
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The same cave complex in the ATAPUNERCA Mountains of Spain, where the new fossil was also found previously provided other important data on the ancient human past. Researchers working in the region have also found the latest Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens fossils.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
