1.4 Million-Yr-Old Skull Discovered in Spanish Cave — Scientists Say It Is ‘The Oldest Face in Western Europe’

Faces are a huge part of human identity. Researchers have found multiple human remains across decades, which showcase how facial features have changed throughout the evolutionary trajectory. A piece of evidence in northern Spain sheds light on the face of a newly discovered hominin, stated Indy100. Findings regarding this evidence have been published in Nature.

Experts have analyzed what they believe to be remains belonging to a being from Homo affinis erectus hominin. The remains were unearthed from the cave site of Sima del Elefante. Scientists think the remains encompass "the earliest human face of western Europe." The remains included skull fragments, and all of them belonged to the same individual, according to researchers. The study named the individual 'Pink' after Pink Floyd, a hugely successful rock group in the music industry, stated The Guardian.

The discovery of remains made the researchers ecstatic, stated Phys.org. They were happy because this was the first time they were analyzing remains from western Europe older than one million years old. This is the first piece of evidence that indicates humans were visiting or inhabiting Europe at that time. Researchers have found no proof which implied that these humans stayed here for a long time. To understand their living patterns at this location, more analysis is needed. 

The fragments were identified as pieces of maxilla [jawbone] and zygomatic bone [cheekbone]. All the pieces appeared to come from the left side of an individual's face. Examinations revealed that the remains were 1.1 and 1.4 million years old. The features showcased a similarity with Homo erectus, a hominin that came from Africa. Researchers are hopeful that the examinations will shed more light on the facial morphology of the first humans that traversed into Europe, stated Popular Mechanics.

Experts detected another set of fossils at the same site that were determined to be 800,000 to 900,000 years old. Examinations showcased that these remains belonged to Homo antecessor. Researchers detected some differences between the facial features of H. antecessor and Homo affinis erectus. In case of H. antecessor, the bone below the eye socket sloped down and backward, while for Pink it was forward. Considering that Homo Sapiens exhibit the sloping down, this implies that Pink's features are primitive. Pink's face also showcased less arching than H. antecessor. 

H. antecessor's upper jaw also had a bend that was not present in Pink’s upper jawbone. The creature also appeared to have a flatter nose, and did not have a hollow area below its eye. All these features indicated that Pink was further removed from modern humans than H. antecessor. On comparison with Homo erectus fossils from Africa and Asia, researchers claimed that Pink's face was narrower.

Based on the results, researchers think that Pink was somewhere between Homo georgicus and Homo antecessor in the evolutionary trajectory. There is a possibility that Homo affinis erectus and Homo antecessor possibly stayed together for a while, or that the former vanished before the arrival of the latter. More examination is needed to understand when exactly Pink's species started and ended on Earth.