A team of scientists led by IPHES-CERCA, a transdisciplinary research institution in Tarragona, Spain, has assigned an ancestral human (hominin) midface fossil fragment discovered at the Sima del Elefante site in the Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain, to a new hominin species designated as Homo aff. erectus. Dated to between 1.4 million and 1.1 million years ago, the fossil (ATE7-1) was initially discovered in 2022. According to the research study* authors, “this fossil (ATE7-1) represents the earliest human face of Western Europe identified thus far”. The species, according to the study authors, is more primitive than the famous Homo antecessor fossil found at the neighboring Gran Dolina site, also in the Sierra de Atapuerca, which has been dated to between 900,000 and 800,000 years ago.
The Sima del Elefante is an ancient Cretaceous limestone sinkhole in the Atapuerca mountain range. Hominin fossils have been discovered in the sinkhole dating back to more than 1.22 million years. The stratigraphy of the sinkhole was exposed in the 19th century as a result of the construction of a railway line.
Excavation of the site began in 1992, becoming systematic in 1996. In addition to the hominin remains, herbivore fossils that showed modification by stone tools, as well as a hundred Oldowan tools, considered among the earliest hominin stone tool industries, were found.
In 2007, excavations at level TE9c yielded a tooth and a hominin mandible with seven teeth still in place. Excavations in 2008 then yielded a hominin phalanx a proximal phalanx of the left little finger of an individual determined to be about 16 years old. And finally, in 2022, excavations at level TE-7 of the site led to the discovery of the subject partial mid-face, or upper jaw, dated to 1.4 million years ago.
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Original fossil (ATE7-1) of the midface of a hominin assigned to Homo aff. erectus recovered at level TE7 of the Sima del Elefante (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos). Credit: Maria D. Guillén / IPHES-CERCA. Maria D. Guillén / IPHES-CERCA.
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Original fossil (ATE7-1) alongside the mirrored right side by means of virtual 3D imaging techniques of the face of a hominin assigned to Homo aff. erectus found in level the TE7 of Sima del Elefante site. Credit: Maria D. Guillén / IPHES-CERCA / Elena Santos / CENIEH. Maria D. Guillén / IPHES-CERCA / Elena Santos / CENIEH.
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Archaeological excavation work at level TE7 of the Sima del Elefante (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos). Maria D. Guillén / IPHES-CERCA.
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General view of the archaeological excavation work at the Sima del Elefante site (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos). Maria D. Guillén / IPHES-CERCA.
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*Huguet, R., Rodríguez-Álvarez, X.P., Martinón-Torres, M. et al. The earliest human face of Western Europe. Nature (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08681-0
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