title: New Middle Pleistocene hominin cranium from Gruta da Aroeira (Portugal).
abstract: The Middle Pleistocene is a crucial time period for studying human evolution in Europe, because it marks the appearance of both fossil hominins ancestral to the later Neandertals and the Acheulean technology. Nevertheless, European sites containing well-dated human remains associated with an Acheulean toolkit remain scarce. The earliest European hominin crania associated with Acheulean handaxes are at the sites of Arago, Atapuerca Sima de los Huesos (SH), and Swanscombe, dating to 400-500 ka (Marine Isotope Stage 11-12). The Atapuerca (SH) fossils and the Swanscombe cranium belong to the Neandertal clade, whereas the Arago hominins have been attributed to an incipient stage of Neandertal evolution, toHomo heidelbergensis, or to a subspecies ofHomo erectusA recently discovered cranium (Aroeira 3) from the Gruta da Aroeira (Almonda karst system, Portugal) dating to 390-436 ka provides important evidence on the earliest European Acheulean-bearing hominins. This cranium is represented by most of the right half of a calvarium (with the exception of the missing occipital bone) and a fragmentary right maxilla preserving part of the nasal floor and two fragmentary molars. The combination of traits in the Aroeira 3 cranium augments the previously documented diversity in the European Middle Pleistocene fossil record.
authors.affiliation: UNIARQ-Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras, Universidade de Lisboa, 1600-214 Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Daura
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain.|Centro Universidad Complutense de Madrid-Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Investigación sobre la Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, 28029 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Montserrat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sanz
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain; jlarsuaga@isciii.es.|Centro Universidad Complutense de Madrid-Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Investigación sobre la Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, 28029 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Arsuaga
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Dirk L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
authors.affiliation: Centro Universidad Complutense de Madrid-Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Investigación sobre la Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, 28029 Madrid, Spain.|Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University-State University of New York, Binghamton, NY 13902.|Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024.
authors.forename: Rolf M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Quam
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain.|Centro Universidad Complutense de Madrid-Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Investigación sobre la Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, 28029 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: María Cruz
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Ortega
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain.|Centro Universidad Complutense de Madrid-Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Investigación sobre la Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, 28029 Madrid, Spain.|Laboratorio de Evolución Humana, Universidad de Burgos, 09001 Burgos, Spain.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: Grup de Recerca del Quaternari - Seminari d'Estudis i Recerques Prehistòriques, Department of History and Archaeology, University of Barcelona, 08007 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gómez
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Antropología, Departamento de Medicina Legal, Toxicología y Antropología Física, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Granada, 18010 Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Angel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rubio
authors.affiliation: Grup de Recerca del Quaternari - Seminari d'Estudis i Recerques Prehistòriques, Department of History and Archaeology, University of Barcelona, 08007 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Lucía
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Villaescusa
authors.affiliation: Crivarque - Estudos de Impacto e Trabalhos Geo-Arqueológicos Lda, 2350 Torres Novas, Portugal.|Sociedade Torrejana de Espeleologia e Arqueologia, 2350 Torres Novas Portugal.
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Souto
authors.affiliation: Crivarque - Estudos de Impacto e Trabalhos Geo-Arqueológicos Lda, 2350 Torres Novas, Portugal.|Sociedade Torrejana de Espeleologia e Arqueologia, 2350 Torres Novas Portugal.
authors.forename: João
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mauricio
authors.affiliation: Crivarque - Estudos de Impacto e Trabalhos Geo-Arqueológicos Lda, 2350 Torres Novas, Portugal.|Sociedade Torrejana de Espeleologia e Arqueologia, 2350 Torres Novas Portugal.
authors.forename: Filipa
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.affiliation: Crivarque - Estudos de Impacto e Trabalhos Geo-Arqueológicos Lda, 2350 Torres Novas, Portugal.
authors.forename: Artur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.affiliation: Crivarque - Estudos de Impacto e Trabalhos Geo-Arqueológicos Lda, 2350 Torres Novas, Portugal.
authors.forename: Paulo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Godinho
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, Washington University in Saint Louis, Saint Louis, MO 63130.
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Trinkaus
authors.affiliation: UNIARQ-Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras, Universidade de Lisboa, 1600-214 Lisbon, Portugal.|Department of History and Archaeology, University of Barcelona, 08007 Barcelona, Spain.|Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, 08010 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: João
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-5937-3061
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zilhão
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D005580:Fossils / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D015186:Hominidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D010163:Paleontology; D011174:Portugal; D012886:Skull / Q000033:anatomy & histology*
keywords: Acheulean; Europe; Neandertal roots; evolutionary patterns; human evolution