Human History in Western Europe Extends to One Million Years Ago

This pre-molar is the oldest evidence of human occupation in western Europe.
Image: AFP

The Atapuerca site in northern Spain's Burgos Province has yielded the oldest human fossil in western Europe, extending the known human occupation in that region hundreds of thousands of years. Scientists had previously found fossil remains of humans at Atapuerca dating back 800,000 years, finds ascribed to Homo antecessor ("Pioneer Man"), but this recently unearthed pre-molar is the oldest, possibly an ancestor of Homo antecessor.

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