The oldest species with a human face is found in Atapuerca
The fossil with the oldest human face in Western Europe has been found. It has been called Homo affinis erectus (a.k.a. Pink) because it does not match the species known until now, but it is close to Homo erectus. The details, published in the journal Nature, highlight the importance of the Atapuerca site to complete the puzzle of human evolution.
In fact, they have previously been found on the same site, on other levels, which were the oldest fossils to date: Homo antecessor, 900,000 years ago, and a jawbone 1.2 million years ago. The bone fragment was not enough to know what species it belonged to, but it was clear to them that it was Homo. The current one has been found 2.5 meters deeper than it, so they know that it is even older.
The finding is part of the jaw bone and jaw bone. Physico-chemical and anatomical studies have shown that the face has a more abrupt appearance than that of H antecessor, and although it resembles that of Homo erectus, it is not entirely the same as hers. They still don’t know what their place would be in evolutionary history. In any case, the researchers anticipate that they will continue to work on the site and hope to have more data in the future to fit the pieces of the puzzle.
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