Thursday, March 27, 2008

The first European?

The first alleged species (there's still some dispute as to taxonomy) that could be called "human" in the European fossil record is represented by six partial skeletons from Spain, dated to 800,000 years ago and christened Homo antecessor. Now the antessessor's antesessor may have been found. A human-like jaw fragment, about 5 cm long and sporting several teeth, has been found in the same area and dated to 300,000 - 400,000 years further back. The history of human development, and its presence in Europe, is still very much in the process of being written.

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