Fossilized face fragments are oldest human ancestor remains ever found in Western Europe
The remains, which the team nicknamed 'Pink,' are between 1.1 million and 1.4 million years old. But they're mysterious: The facial fragments do not seem to come from any species found in the same area in the past, nor can they be conclusively identified as any particular species.
'We are documenting a previously unknown human population in Europe,' said María Martinón-Torres, a co-author of the study and a paleoanthropologist at the Spanish National Research Center for Human Evolution, said in a call with reporters. 'This fossil represents the earliest human fossil found so far in Western Europe.'
The fragment, discovered in 2022, was first reported in the journal Nature on Wednesday with new details.
The researchers tentatively suggested that Pink is likely related to the human ancestor Homo erectus. (The fossil was named, in part, for the band Pink Floyd, and also after Rosa Huguet, the study's primary author and the coordinator of the archaeological site where it was found.)
The finding is significant because it gives researchers a better timeline of when Western Europe was first settled by human ancestors. It could also help bridge a gap in evolutionary space between the oldest known human ancestor fossils found in Europe — which are roughly 1.8 million years old and were discovered at a site in the Republic of Georgia called Dmanisi — and a species called Homo antecessor, which dates back roughly 900,000 years.
'It's not like the Dmanisi fossils, which are older, and it's not like the younger Homo sapien -like anatomy of Homo antecessor. It's something in between,' said Rodrigo Lacruz, a professor of molecular pathobiology at New York University, who was not involved in the new discovery but has studied the evolution of the human face.
The discovery may therefore help researchers better understand the story of early human evolution and migration in Europe.
'We can start piecing together what that population could have looked like, and that's a great value, because you start seeing how anatomy changes over time,' Lacruz said.
The team that discovered Pink said the fossil is from an adult, but they are not sure whether male or female. Pink was found about 60 feet below the top layer of sedimentary rock, at a cave within the Sierra de Atapuerca archaeological site, which is known for the rich historical record in its rock layers.
Within the same sedimentary level as Pink, researchers found stone tools and animal bones with marks made by cutting, which suggests that these early ancestors butchered animals for meat.
Evidence suggests that human ancestors settled Europe in multiple waves, but that most of those populations subsequently contracted and died out. The fossil record is discontinuous at the Atapuerca site and in Western Europe as a whole, indicating that there were likely long periods without human presence.
The study posits that the species Pink belonged to could have overlapped briefly with Homo antecessor. It's also possible the species was wiped out during a climactic shift that started about 1.1 million years ago and has only recently been identified by researchers.
Chris Stringer, a professor and research leader on human evolution at the Natural History Museum in London, who was not involved in the discovery of Pink, said the climate event 'may have caused a major and perhaps complete human depopulation of western Europe.'
The cave where Pink was discovered, called Sima del Elefante, or elephant chasm, has produced compelling fossils before. In 2007, researchers found a small piece of jawbone that is believed to be about 1.2 million years old, which appears to be closely related to Pink. Pink was found about 6 feet deeper than that fossil, though, which makes scientists believe it's older.
Martinón-Torres said the researchers were shocked to find a new, important fossil even deeper. Her first reaction to the discovery, she said, was: 'Am I really dreaming?'
The region's impressive collection of fossils likely has to do with its geography.
'Atapuerca was a natural corridor between different mountain systems,' Martinón-Torres said, adding that there was ample water. 'It was probably a place that was ideal for hominins to settle. They have the resources, they have the animals passing by.'
Scientists are still digging at the archaeological site.
'We're going to keep excavating,' Martinón-Torres said. 'We may have more surprises.'
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