Archaeologists discover human fossils that date 1.2 million years
By: Michael Stevens March 26, 2008, 8:24 PM EDT
Archaeologists have recently discovered the oldest human fossil that once roamed Europe as much as 1.2 million years ago.
The oldest human fossil discovery was made recently in a cave near Burgos, Spain.
Researchers stated on Wednesday that they have discovered a fossil belonging to early humans that once roamed Europe about 1.2 million years ago. The breakthrough discovery was found at an archaeology dig in northern Spain.
Archaeologists excavated a jaw bone, teeth and simple tools in a cave near the city of Burgos dated around 400,000 years older than the previously oldest-known remains found.
The human bones are similar to fossils found 14 years ago, from a nearby site, believed to be 800,000 years old.
"These are the oldest human remains in Europe. With this fossil, we can say it (Europe) was populated earlier than was thought," Andreu Olle told Reuters. Olle has worked at the site since 1990.
Up until the present time, archaeologists had found evidence of human activity in Spain, France and Italy around 1 million years ago but no human remains, only animal bones and stone tools.
Scientists believe that modern humans are from ancestors that eventually reached their journey from Africa about 50,000 years ago, quickly establishing Stone Age cultures throughout Europe, Asia and Australia.
However, the fossil is considered to be from the "Homo antecessor" species, which would have shared common ancestors with modern humans and may have mixed with the more recent newcomers from the African continent. -- source