Persbericht: Fossiele kies mensachtige
Geplaatst: 02 jul 2007, 16:54
Het volgende persbericht kreeg ik opgestuurd van Mark (CRU64), die meewerkt aan de opgraving:
It has been fifteen years since some European scientists rekindled the debate on the dates of the first human occupation of Europe. These scientists, among them Prof. Wil Roebroeks, proposed that Europe was not colonized until half a million years ago. The archaeological and paleontological evidence seemed to support this hypothesis, although from the seventies of the last century, other researchers such as Prof. Henry de Lumley claimed to have evidences of an earlier colonization, maybe close to one million years. Archaeological sites such as Monte Poggiolo in Italy, Le Vallonet in France and the TD4 level in the Gran Dolina site in Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain) provided some data on human occupation around one million years ago. These data consisted of lithic instruments that could only be explained by the presence of hominins in that remote period.
However, big news occurred on July 8th 1994. In the TD6 level of the Gran Dolina, an assemblage of hundred human fossils belonging to a so far unknown species was found associated with several lithic instruments. Three years later, the Atapuerca research team published in Science magazine a new human species, Homo antecessor, meaning “the explorer” in latin, since it was the first settler of Europe with an age of 800.000 years old. With these findings, the date of the first hominin arrival to the most occidental part of the Eurasian continent was moved back at least 300.000 years.
At the beginning of the XXI century, the chronologies of several sites such as Barranco León and Fuente Nueva, in the Guadix Baza basin (Granada) and the lowest levels of Sima del Elefante site in the Sierra de Atapuerca, were confirmed. In addition, new lithic tools as well as cutmarks on some herbivorous fossils found in Pirro Nord site in Italy, and Labaux in France, were stretching back the dates of the arrival of the first Europeans, to possibly 1.2 or 1.3 million years ago.
The morning of the 27th of July of 2007, in the first weeks of the new excavation season of the Sierra de Atapuerca, has been crucial for this scientific debate. The Atapuerca research team has just found a human premolar in the TE9 level of the Sima del Elefante site. This tooth represents the oldest human fossil remain of occidental Europe. Now we finally have the anatomical evidence of the hominins that fabricated those tools more than one million years ago.
The TE9 level of the Sima del Elefante site had provided so far fossils from several mammal species such as bisons, wild bears, deers and even Macaca, one of the very few European primate species from that period. In addition, there were also found several bird fossils and remains from a small mouse, Allophayomis lavocati, that point to a chronology beyond one million years for this level. The paleomagnetism study of the Sima del Elefante site had already confirmed that the TE9 level had been deposited during the Lower Pleistocene. The preliminary radiometric studies also confirmed that the TE9 level is older than one million years and we are waiting for the final results before publishing this extraordinary finding in a research journal of the highest scientific prestige.
Since it is an isolated fossil remain, it is not possible at this point to confirm to which Homo species this tooth belongs to. Future studies in the coming months will allow a more precise conclusion about this matter.
It has been fifteen years since some European scientists rekindled the debate on the dates of the first human occupation of Europe. These scientists, among them Prof. Wil Roebroeks, proposed that Europe was not colonized until half a million years ago. The archaeological and paleontological evidence seemed to support this hypothesis, although from the seventies of the last century, other researchers such as Prof. Henry de Lumley claimed to have evidences of an earlier colonization, maybe close to one million years. Archaeological sites such as Monte Poggiolo in Italy, Le Vallonet in France and the TD4 level in the Gran Dolina site in Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain) provided some data on human occupation around one million years ago. These data consisted of lithic instruments that could only be explained by the presence of hominins in that remote period.
However, big news occurred on July 8th 1994. In the TD6 level of the Gran Dolina, an assemblage of hundred human fossils belonging to a so far unknown species was found associated with several lithic instruments. Three years later, the Atapuerca research team published in Science magazine a new human species, Homo antecessor, meaning “the explorer” in latin, since it was the first settler of Europe with an age of 800.000 years old. With these findings, the date of the first hominin arrival to the most occidental part of the Eurasian continent was moved back at least 300.000 years.
At the beginning of the XXI century, the chronologies of several sites such as Barranco León and Fuente Nueva, in the Guadix Baza basin (Granada) and the lowest levels of Sima del Elefante site in the Sierra de Atapuerca, were confirmed. In addition, new lithic tools as well as cutmarks on some herbivorous fossils found in Pirro Nord site in Italy, and Labaux in France, were stretching back the dates of the arrival of the first Europeans, to possibly 1.2 or 1.3 million years ago.
The morning of the 27th of July of 2007, in the first weeks of the new excavation season of the Sierra de Atapuerca, has been crucial for this scientific debate. The Atapuerca research team has just found a human premolar in the TE9 level of the Sima del Elefante site. This tooth represents the oldest human fossil remain of occidental Europe. Now we finally have the anatomical evidence of the hominins that fabricated those tools more than one million years ago.
The TE9 level of the Sima del Elefante site had provided so far fossils from several mammal species such as bisons, wild bears, deers and even Macaca, one of the very few European primate species from that period. In addition, there were also found several bird fossils and remains from a small mouse, Allophayomis lavocati, that point to a chronology beyond one million years for this level. The paleomagnetism study of the Sima del Elefante site had already confirmed that the TE9 level had been deposited during the Lower Pleistocene. The preliminary radiometric studies also confirmed that the TE9 level is older than one million years and we are waiting for the final results before publishing this extraordinary finding in a research journal of the highest scientific prestige.
Since it is an isolated fossil remain, it is not possible at this point to confirm to which Homo species this tooth belongs to. Future studies in the coming months will allow a more precise conclusion about this matter.