An international team of researchers has uncovered a groundbreaking discovery in Romania that has rewritten the timeline of early human presence in Europe, pushing back the known date by roughly 500,000 years. The discovery proves that early hominins were present in Europe some 200,000 years earlier than previously thought.
The Grâunceanu Site
The team excavated Grăunceanu in Romania, discovering Europe’s oldest well-dated evidence of human activity. More than 5,000 fossil bones were found and examined at the site and surrounding areas. Although no hominin bones were found, the fossilized bones revealed significant cut marks, indicating that early hominins used stone tools to hunt.
Stone Tools
The cut-marks on at least 20 fossilized animal bones suggest the deliberate removal of meat, proving that hominins lived in the area. These “calling cards” left behind by an unknown species of humans, including the stone tools used to remove meat from slain animals, offer tangible proof of their presence in Europe.
Dating the Fossils
The research team used uranium-lead dating to determine the age of the fossils. The analysis revealed that the bones were an average of 1.95 million years old, however some bones could be dated back as far as 2.01 million years ago. This discovery makes the Grăunceanu site the oldest site in Europe with evidence of human activity.
Challenging the Dmanisi Paradigm
Before this discovery, the Dmanisi site in Georgia held the oldest evidence of hominin activity outside of Africa, dating back roughly 1.77 to 1.85 million years ago. The findings from Grăunceanu push the timeline of hominin presence in Europe back even further by almost 200,000 years. However, scientists question how they could have gotten to Europe from Africa through Asia and survived.
Climate Reconstruction
Dr Vasile Ersek, from Northumbria University, provided insight into the period’s climate using isotope analysis of fossilized horse teeth found at the site. The analysis revealed that early humans adapted to a climate with “distinct wet winters and dry summers,” a markedly more seasonal climate than in Africa. This indicates that early humans could adapt and survive in European environments much earlier.
The Korolevo Site
Based on findings from a study published in 2024 by an international team led by the Nuclear Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, stone tools discovered at Korolevo, in western Ukraine, have been dated to 1.4 million years old. This discovery further enhances the understanding of how Europe was inhabited by our direct ancestors – early members of the Homo erectus species.
The Pioneering Genus
Homo erectus is said to have migrated from Africa to western Asia about 1.8 million years ago, eventually making their way to China and Indonesia. Stone tools discovered at Korolevo, an archaeological site in Ukraine, suggest that populations moved northwest into Europe roughly 1.4 million years ago, occupying the region during warm interglacial periods.
Implications for Understanding Early Human Migration
The discoveries made at the Grâunceanu and Korolevo sites suggest a more complex picture of early human migration into Europe. Since there was convincing evidence to suggest otherwise, it was thought that the Black Sea and lands north of Africa may have been a barrier to migration. However, the evidence from Korolevo suggests that early humans may have migrated into Europe from the east rather than from North Africa across the Straits of Gibraltar.
Future Research
Further research, including palaeomagnetic analysis, is essential to deepen our understanding of early human occupation in Europe, especially at the Grăunceanu and Korolevo sites. Despite the lack of hominin fossils at the Grăunceanu site, the cut marks on the animal bones provide compelling evidence of early human presence, but this, too, needs further study.
Sources
Scientists discover oldest evidence of early human activity in Europe
Earliest Evidence Of Human Relatives In Europe Pushed Back 500,000 Years
Evidence of first humans in Europe unearthed
