Researchers said the fossil found at an archaeological site on June 30 in the Atapuerca mountain range was about 1.4 million years old. Until now, the oldest hominid fossil found in Europe was a jawbone found at the same site in 2007, which was determined to be 1.2 million years old. Atapuerca holds one of the richest records of prehistoric human occupation in Europe. Researchers should now complete their first estimate of the age of the jaw fragment using dating techniques, paleoanthropologist José María Berúmudez de Castro, co-director of the Atapuerca research program, said during a press conference. Since the jawbone fragment was found about 2 meters below the 2007 earth layer, “it is logical and reasonable to believe that it is older,” he said. Dating of the jaw fragment will take place at the National Research Center for Human Evolution in Burgos, a town located about six miles from Atapuerca. The process should take six to eight months to complete, Bermúdez de Castro said. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every weekday morning at 7am The analysis could help identify which species of hominid the jaw fragment belongs to and better understand how human beings evolved on the European continent. Scientists have so far been unable to determine with certainty the type of jawbone discovered in 2007. The fossil could correspond to Homo antecessor, discovered in the 1990s. The Atapuerca Foundation, which manages the archaeological site, said it was very likely the jawbone fragment “belongs to one of the first populations that colonized Europe”. In 2000 the archaeological site of Atapuerca was added to the Unesco World Heritage List, giving it access to UN conservation funding. It contains thousands of hominid fossils and tools, including a flint discovered in 2013 that is 1.4 million years old.
