A breakthrough discovery in the history of early human migration pushes our understanding of their travel further back in time, with new sophisticated geological dating methods established just when the first hominids entered Europe via the Iberian Peninsula, some 1.3 million years ago.
Based on the Orce sites in the Baza basin of Granada, this finding will not only confirm the oldest human remains found at those sites in Europe but also prove the theory of penetration of early humans into Europe through the Strait of Gibraltar.
A New Timeline Opens Up (Photo : CESAR MANSO/AFP via Getty Images)
The researchers used paleomagnetism, a technique played off Earth's magnetic pole reversals-during their study headed by Lluís Gibert of the University of Barcelona.
The method, having recorded changes in minerals, was able to establish some timeline of magnetic events accordingly.
Findings have unraveled that Orce sites with human presence date between the Olduvai and Jaramillo subchrons, which is roughly 1.77 to 1.07 million years ago.
The Path Less Traveled
This finding enhances the theory that these early men made their way to Europe via the south, crossing the Strait of Gibraltar between Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, rather than through the eastern Mediterranean road from Asia.
This was done because it provided a statistical age model based on the various stratigraphic levels, making the estimated error margin as little as 70,000 years.
The oldest site is that of Venta Micena, at 1.32 million years ago, followed by Barranco León at 1.28 million years, and that of Fuente Nueva 3 at 1.23 million years.
The Orce sites are two paleo-archaeological sites of extraordinary importance, situated in the province of Granada. There are three of them: Barranco León, Venta Micena, and Fuente Nueva 3.
These lie in the surroundings of a previously existing ancient lake, with very good preservation of fossils within the sediment. The dry badlands, deep canyons, and clear reservoirs of this county set up the landscape where the most remote phases of Europe's past can be better exposed.
Among the most famous findings of Barranco León is one of a child's teeth, initially fossilized in sediment and dating back 1.4 million years. If that date is confirmed, it would represent the oldest remains of the genus Homo on the continent.
At another site, that of Venta Micena, a skull fragment was reported to be the oldest proof of human presence in Europe, which was then disproved shortly afterward.
These remains of great mammals, with a continuing matrix of about 1.5-1.6 million years ago, are located in the calcareous mud of freshwater ponds near the ancient Lake Orce-Baza.
From these sites, evidence could be given to this hypothesis about the first hominids arriving in Europe and establishing the oldest evidence to date regarding the presence of man on this continent.
Nowadays, most of the invaluable finds from the Orce sites are on display in the Museum of Prehistory in Orce, complemented by explanations of their meaning in archaeology.
While the results provide a more accurate chronology of human evolution in Europe, they also stress the importance of the Iberian Peninsula as one of the key places of this story, which our ancestors experienced when leaving the African continent for new frontiers.