Marta Navazo

The first hominin of Europe

The earliest hominin occupation of Europe is one of the most debated topics in palaeoanthropology. However, the purportedly oldest of the Early Pleistocene sites in Eurasia lack precise age control and contain stone tools rather than human fossil remains. Here we report the discovery of a human mandible associated with an assemblage of Mode 1 lithic tools and faunal remains bearing traces of hominin processing, in stratigraphic level TE9 at the site of the Sima del Elefante, Atapuerca, Spain. Level TE9 has been dated to the Early Pleistocene (approximately 1.2–1.1 Myr), based on a combination of palaeomagnetism, cosmogenic nuclides and biostratigraphy. The Sima del Elefante site thus emerges as the oldest, most accurately dated record of human occupation in Europe, to our knowledge. The study of the human mandible suggests that the first settlement of Western Europe could be related to an early demographic expansion out of Africa. The new evidence, with previous findings in other Atapuerca sites (level TD6 from Gran Dolina), also suggests that a speciation event occurred in this extreme area of the Eurasian continent during the Early Pleistocene, initiating the hominin lineage represented by the TE9 and TD6 hominins.

New human fossil to the last Neanderthals in central Spain (Jarama VI, Valdesotos, Guadalajara, Spain)

The morphology of the Neanderthal first metatarsals and those of modern humans are quite similar. Following Trinkaus (1983), the Neanderthal first metatarsals only exhibit a moderate degree of robusticity. This robusticity could be related to the shortness of the Neanderthal first metatarsals, but unfortunately the total length of the Jarama IV metatarsal is not preserved. In our metric comparisons of first metatarsals, it was difficult to discriminate between Neanderthals and modern humans. Neanderthal shafts presented lower values in dorsoplantar diameter than modern humans, although a high degree of variation was observed. The morphology and dimensions of the Jarama VI hallucial metatarsal are very similar to those of recent humans and Neanderthals. The presence of the accessory articular facet for the second metatarsal and the midshaft dimensions of the Jarama VI fossil suggest a Neanderthal affinity, although this hypothesis remains tentative. A precise taxonomic attribution of the Jarama VI first metatarsal must await the recovery of further remains. In Iberia, all Mousterian-related or OIS 3a human remains are ascribed to the species Homo neanderthalensis.We therefore believe that the Jarama VI metatarsal is more likely to be from a Neanderthal than a modern human. The taphonomic study reveals that the metatarsus was altered by a small canid. This agent has also affected a small part of all of the large mammals of Jarama, although abundant cutmarks suggest that the hominids were the main agents of transport and consumption of the herbivores. The technological features of Jarama VI suggest expedited knapping for local materials. Coupled with the scarcity of evidence of hearths, this suggests that visits to the site were short-term occupations during which the Jarama inhabitants obtained edges, especially without retouching, for activities related to hunting and processing fauna and possibly other functions.