Discovery of partial face fossil belongs to oldest human ancestor in Western Europe

Part of the face of a human ancestor is the oldest in Western Europe, according to the results of a new study published this week.

The incomplete skull – a section of the left cheek and the upper jaw – was found in northern Spain in 2022 and published in Nature on Wednesday.

Archaeologists believe that Al -Ahfouri ranges between 1.1 million and 1.4 million years.

The researchers hope that the discovery will provide some new ideas about the first population of Western Europe during the early Blistocene period. Many information available from Western Europe is limited to the Iberian Peninsula.

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This image, presented by the Catalan Institute for Human Diseases and Social Development in March 2025, shows archaeological excavations at the Sima Deal Elevante site in Sierra de Ataburaka, Burgos, Spain, where a hole of Humin was found between 1.1 million and 1.4 million years. (Maria de Gillin/IPHES-CERCA via AP)

While a group of older fossils of the first ancestors of the first human being in the country of Georgia was found, the Spanish Al -Ahfouri is the first evidence that shows the ancestors “they were doing trips to Europe” at the time, said Rick Pots, director of the Human Smithsonian Asset Program, told the Associated Press.

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However, there is no evidence that the closest arrivals were there for a long time, indicating that they may have been ventured in other locations and then died.

This image presented by the Catalan Institute for Human Diseases and Social Development in March 2025 shows a hole from the middle of the left interface of Huminin, right, between 1.1 million and 1.4 million years, recovered from the Sima Del Elefante site in Sierra de Attabura, Pirgos, diarrhea, and Smalility from the other side. (Maria D. Gilinne/Evis Kersa, Elena Santos/Senier via AP)

Spain, the author, the author, the author of the study at the Catalan Institute for Human Medology and Social Development in Tarragona, said that the partial skull carries similarities with homo erection, but there are also some anatomical differences.

This image presented by the Catalan Institute for Human Diseases and Social Development in March 2025 shows Dr. Rosa Huguet, a researcher at iPhes-CERCA and a professor at the University of Rovira I Virgili, with a hole of the Homein between 1.1 million and 1.4 million years, found at the archaeological site in Spin. (Maria de Gillin/IPHES-CERCA via AP)

Pots said that Homo Erectus grew up about two million years ago and moved from Africa to regions of Asia and Europe, where the last individuals die about 100,000 years ago.

This image presented by the Catalan Institute for Human Diseases and Social Development in March 2025 shows a fossil from the middle of the left interface of the Huminin between 1.1 million and 1.4 million years recovered from Sima Del Elefante at Sierra De Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain. (Maria de Gillin/IPHES-CERCA via AP)

Christophe Zolicofer, the university scientist at Zurich University, said it is difficult to determine which group of the first people discovered by fossils if there is only one part against many bones that show a group of features.

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The same cave complex in the Atapuerca Mountains in Spain, where new fossils were also found that have also resulted in other important evidence of the old human past. The researchers working in the region also found more modern fossils than primitive and early Sapiens.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.