title: The oldest human fossil in Europe, from Orce (Spain).
abstract: The Orce region has one of the best late Pliocene and early Pleistocene continental paleobiological records of Europe. It is situated in the northeastern sector of the intramontane Guadix-Baza Basin (Granada, Andalusia, southern Spain). Here we describe a new fossil hominin tooth from the site of Barranco León, dated between 1.02 and 1.73 Ma (millions of years ago) by Electron Spin Resonance (ESR), which, in combination with paleomagnetic and biochronologic data, is estimated to be close to 1.4 Ma. While the range of dates obtained from these various methods overlaps with those published for the Sima del Elefante hominin locality (1.2 Ma), the overwhelming majority of evidence points to an older age. Thus, at the moment, the Barranco León hominin is the oldest from Western Europe.
authors.affiliation: Museo Arqueológico de Granada, Carrera del Darro 41-43, 18010 Granada, Spain. isidro.toro@juntadeandalucia.es
authors.forename: Isidro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Toro-Moyano
authors.forename: Bienvenido
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Martínez-Navarro
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Agustí
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Souday
authors.forename: José María
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Bermúdez de Castro
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Martinón-Torres
authors.forename: Beatriz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fajardo
authors.forename: Mathieu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Duval
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Falguères
authors.forename: Oriol
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Oms
authors.forename: Josep Maria
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Parés
authors.forename: Pere
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Anadón
authors.forename: Ramón
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Julià
authors.forename: José Manuel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: García-Aguilar
authors.forename: Anne-Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Moigne
authors.forename: María Patrocinio
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Espigares
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ros-Montoya
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Palmqvist
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005580:Fossils; D015186:Hominidae; D010161:Paleodontology; D013030:Spain; D014070:Tooth / Q000033:anatomy & histology