Jawbone found in Spain may mark earliest presence of humans in Europe

A jawbone which was unearthed in 1887 and previously thought to be Neanderthal may actually mark the earliest evidence for Homo sapiens ever found in Europe.

The researchers suggest that it could even be a member of a previously unidentified human species.

Researchers from Binghamton University, State University of New York, used 3D scanning and imaging technology to ‘reconstruct’ the jaw.

Binghamton University graduate student Brian Keeling said, “The mandible has been studied throughout the past century and was long considered to be a Neanderthal based on its age and location, and the fact that it lacks one of the diagnostic features of Homo sapiens: a chin,”

In 1887, the fossil mandible was discovered during quarrying activities in the town of Banyoles, Spain, and has been studied by different researchers over the past century.

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The Banyoles fossil likely dates to between approximately 45,000-65,000 years ago, at a time when Europe was occupied by Neanderthals.

The new study relied on virtual techniques, including CT scanning of the original fossil.

This was used to virtually reconstruct missing parts of the fossil, and then to generate a 3D model to be analysed on the computer.

The authors applied a methodology known as “three-dimensional geometric morphometrics” that analyses the geometric properties of the bone’s shape.

This makes it possible to directly compare the overall shape of Banyoles to Neanderthals and H. sapiens.

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“Our results found something quite surprising - Banyoles shared no distinct Neanderthal traits and did not overlap with Neanderthals in its overall shape,” said Keeling.

While Banyoles seemed to fit better with Homo sapiens in both the expression of its individual features and its overall shape, many of these features are also shared with earlier human species, complicating an immediate assignment to Homo sapiens.

Also, Banyoles lacks a chin, one of the most characteristic features of Homo sapiens mandibles.

“We were confronted with results that were telling us Banyoles is not a Neanderthal, but the fact that it does not have a chin made us think twice about assigning it to Homo sapiens,” said Rolf Quam, professor of anthropology at Binghamton University.

“The presence of a chin has long been considered a hallmark of our own species.”

The authors point out that some of the earliest Homo sapiens fossils from Africa, predating Banyoles by more than 100,000 years, do show less pronounced chins than in living populations.

Thus, these scientists developed two possibilities for what the Banyoles mandible may represent: a member of a previously unknown population of Homo sapiens that coexisted with the Neanderthals; or a hybrid between a member of this Homo sapiens group and a non-Neanderthal unidentified human species.

However, at the time of Banyoles, the only fossils recovered from Europe are Neanderthals, making this latter hypothesis less likely.

“If Banyoles is really a member of our species, this prehistoric human would represent the earliest H. sapiens ever documented in Europe,” said Keeling.

Whichever species this mandible belongs to, Banyoles is clearly not a Neanderthal at a time when Neanderthals were believed to be the sole occupants of Europe.

The authors conclude that “the present situation makes Banyoles a prime candidate for ancient DNA or proteomic analyses, which may shed additional light on its taxonomic affinities.”

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