osseous tissue shards of a 1.4 million - year - honest-to-god face found in Spain appear to be from the oldest fogy of a human ascendant ever discovered in Europe , break further back the previous platter - holder by 200,000 long time . At this age , the os is certainly not our species , Homo Sapien , but likely belongs to an extinct and orphic human ancestor .
A shard of the upper jaw and cheekbone was discovered on June 30 during archeological excavations at Sierra de Atapuerca in northern Spain , according to theAtapuerca Foundation . Their monolithic find was bring out at a press conference held on Friday .
This site is well known to have once been home to prehistoric human ancestors . In 1994 , scientists work at the sitediscovered the remainsof a antecedently strange hominin dubbedHomo antecessor(Latin for " pioneer man " ) , its name alluding to the fact this coinage was the other sleep together example of a human mintage dare to stake to western Europe . Its full identity is n’t certain , but some researchers debate it may have been one of the last common ancestors betweenHomo Sapiensand Neanderthals .
The team is presently unsure which human metal money the fresh jaw and cheekbone belonged to , but they are keen to see how they relate toHomo antecessorand whether the fossils could supply any sixth sense into how sure facial features develop among the many species of humans .
Another ground - breaking discovery at Atapuerca arrived in 2007 when they found hominin remains that dated to 1.2 million years ago . This latest uncovering was find at an even deep geological layer , suggesting that it date to around 200,000 geezerhood prior .
To reassert this , the jawbone shard will undergo radiocarbon dating at the National Center for Research on Human Evolution in Burgos . Those final result desire to be released early next twelvemonth within six to eight months , according toAFP .
All of these discoveries cast off some much need light on one of the essential chapters of primitive human history : the wave of migrations out of Africa . The novel osseous tissue likely belong to an soul that was a extremity of the first human population to settle in Europe .
However , it would be some clip before they were joined byHomo Sapiens . Anatomically modernHomo sapiensevolved in Africaaround 300,000 years ago . The ascendant of current human population outside Africa did not leave that continent until about 60,000 years ago . They likelyentered Europearound 45,000 years ago and quickly interchange the long - standing universe of Neanderthals , which weredriven into extinctionaround 40,000 years ago .
