Homo antecessor

Cladus: Eukaryota
Supergroup: Opisthokonta
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Classis: Mammalia
Subclassis: Theria
Infraclassis: Placentalia
Ordo: Primates
Subordo: Haplorrhini
Infraordo: Simiiformes
Parvordo: Catarrhini
Superfamilia: Hominoidea
Familia: Hominidae
Subfamilia: Homininae
Tribus: Hominini
Subtribus: Hominina
Genus: Homo
Species: †Homo antecessor

Name

Homo antecessor, de Castro et al., 1997

Vernacular names
Internationalization
Eesti: Pioneer-inimene

Homo antecessor is an extinct human species (or subspecies) dating from 1.2 million to 800,000 years ago, that was discovered by Eudald Carbonell, Juan Luis Arsuaga and J. M. Bermúdez de Castro. H. antecessor is one of the earliest known human varieties in Europe. Various archaeologists and anthropologists[who?] have debated how H. antecessor related to other Homo species in Europe, with suggestions that it was an evolutionary link between H. ergaster and H. heidelbergensis, although Richard Klein believes that it was instead a separate species that evolved from H. ergaster.[1] Others[who?] believe that H. antecessor is in fact the same species as H. heidelbergensis, who inhabited Europe from 600,000 to 250,000 years ago in the Pleistocene.

The best-preserved fossil is a maxilla that belonged to a 10-year-old individual found in Spain. Based on palaeomagnetic measurements, it is thought to be older than 780–857 ka.[2] The average brain was 1,000 cm³ in volume. In 1994 and 1995, 80 fossils of six individuals that may have belonged to the species were found in Atapuerca, Spain. At the site were numerous examples of cuts where the flesh had been flensed from the bones, which indicates that H. antecessor could have practised cannibalism.[3]

Physiology
Model of a female Homo antecessor of Atapuerca practicing cannibalism (Ibeas Museum, Burgos, Spain)

H. antecessor was about 1.6-1.8 m (5½-6 feet) tall, and males weighed roughly 90 kg (200 pounds). Their brain sizes were roughly 1,000–1,150 cm³, smaller than the 1,350 cm³ average of modern humans. Due to its scarcity, very little more is known about the physiology of H. antecessor, yet it was likely to have been more robust than H. heidelbergensis. According to Juan Luis Arsuaga, one of the co-directors of the excavation in Burgos, H. antecessor might have been right-handed, a trait that makes the species different from the other apes. This hypothesis is based on tomography techniques. Arsuaga also claims that the frequency range of audition is similar to H. sapiens, which makes him believe that H. antecessor used a symbolic language and was able to reason.[4] Arsuaga's team is currently pursuing a DNA map of H. antecessor after elucidating that of a bear that lived in northern Spain some 500,000 years ago.

Based on teeth eruption pattern, the researchers think that H. antecessor had the same development stages as H. sapiens, though probably at a faster pace. Other features acquired by the species are a protruding occipital bun, a low forehead and a lack of a strong chin. Some of the remains are almost indistinguishable from the fossil attributable to the 1.5 million year old Turkana Boy, belonging to H. ergaster.

Fossil sites

The only known fossils of H. antecessor are from two sites in the Sierra de Atapuerca region of northern Spain (Gran Dolina and Sima del Elefante).
Model of a male Homo antecessor of Atapuerca mountains (Ibeas Museum, Burgos, Spain)

Gran Dolina

Archaeologist Eudald Carbonell i Roura of the Universidad Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona, Spain and palaeoanthropologist Juan Luis Arsuaga Ferreras of the Complutense University of Madrid discovered Homo antecessor remains at the Gran Dolina site in the Sierra de Atapuerca, east of Burgos. The H. antecessor remains have been found in level 6 (TF6) of the Gran Dolina site. Over 80 bone fragments from six individuals were uncovered in 1994 and 1995. The site had also included roughly 200 stone tools and about 300 animal bones. Stone tools including a stone carved knife were found along with the ancient hominin remains. All these remains were dated at least 780,000 years old. The best-preserved remains are a maxilla (upper jawbone) and a frontal bone of an individual who died at the age of 10–11.

Sima del Elefante

On June 29th, 2007, Spanish researchers working at the Sima del Elefante site in the Atapuerca Mountains (Spain) announced that they had recovered a molar dated to 1.1–1.2 million years ago. The molar was described as "well worn" and from an individual between 20 and 25 years of age. Additional findings announced on 27 March 2008 included the discovery of a mandible fragment, stone flakes, and evidence of animal bone processing.[5]

Suffolk, England

In 2005 flint tools and teeth from the water vole Mimomys Savini, a key dating species, were found in the cliffs at Pakefield near Lowestoft in Suffolk. This suggests that hominins can be dated in England to 700,000 years ago, potentially a cross between Homo Antecessor and Homo Heidelbergensis.[6][7][8][9][10]

Norfolk, England

In 2010 stone tools finds were reported in Happisburgh, Norfolk, England,[11][12] believed to have been used by H. antecessor, suggesting that the early hominin species also lived in England about 950,000 years ago – the earliest known population of the genus Homo in Northern Europe.
References

BBC - Dawn of Man (2000) by Robin Mckie ISBN 0-7894-6262-1

Notes

^ Klein, Richard. 2009. "Hominin Disperals in the Old World" in The Human Past, ed. Chris Scarre, 2nd ed., p. 108.
^ Falguères, Christophe; J. Bahain; Y. Yokoyama, J. Arsuaga, J. Bermudez de Castro, E. Carbonell, J. Bischoff and J. Dolo (1999) "Earliest humans in Europe: the age of TD6 Gran Dolina, Atapuerca, Spain"; Journal of Human Evolution 37 (3-4): 343-352 (351).
^ Fernández-Jalvo, Y.; Díez, J. C.; Cáceres, I. and Rosell, J. (September 1999). "Human cannibalism in the Early Pleistocene of Europe (Gran Dolina, Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain)". Journal of Human Evolution (Academic Press) 37 (34): 591–622. doi:10.1006/jhev.1999.0324. PMID 10497001.
^ El Mundo newspaper (in Spanish)
^ Carbonell, Eudald; José M. Bermúdez de Castro et al. (2008-03-27). "The first hominin of Europe". Nature 452 (7186): 465–469. doi:10.1038/nature06815. PMID 18368116. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
^ Parfitt.S et al (2005) 'The earliest record of human activity in northern Europe', Nature 438 pp.1008-1012, 2005-12-15. Retrieved 2011-04-16.
^ Roebroeks.W (2005) 'Archaeology: Life on the Costa del Cromer', Nature 438 pp.921-922, 2005-12-15. Retrieved 2011-04-16.
^ Parfitt.S et al (2006) '700,000 years old: found in Pakefield', British Archaeology, January/February 2006. Retrieved 2008-12-24.
^ Good. C & Plouviez. J (2007) The Archaeology of the Suffolk Coast Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service [online]. Retrieved 2009-11-28.
^ Tools unlock secrets of early man, BBC news website, 2005-12-14. Retrieved 2011-04-15.
^ Moore, Matthew (8 July 2010). "Norfolk earliest known settlement in northern Europe". The Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 8 July 2010.
^ Ghosh, Pallab (7 July 2010). "Humans' early arrival in Britain". BBC. Retrieved 8 July 2010.