A new face for human ancestors
Gibbons, A.
Science 276(5317): 1331-1333
1997
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-8075 PMID: 9190675 Document Number: 479030
In 1994, excavations at a site in northern Spain called Gran Dolina uncovered fragments of hominid bones and teeth, which may prove to come from a species ancestral to both modern humans and Neanderthals. The layers containing human fossils were dated using periodic shifts in Earth's magnetic field to over 780,000 years old, making them the oldest known Europeans. One fossil in particular, the face of a young boy, had familiar modern features, such as sunken cheekbones and a projecting nose and midface, as well as primitive features, such as a prominent brow ridge and multiple roots for premolars, a combination that does not fit any known species. If this new species, named Homo antecessor, is the last common ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans, it could displace two other favored species, H. erectus and H. heidelbergensis, off the main line of descent to modern humans.