Stone tools rewriting history of first humans in Europe
Precisely when hominins – our direct ancestors – travelled out of Africa and migrated to Eurasia has been difficult to pin down because fossil remains from this period are scarce. Stone tools buried deep in the sediment of a 1.4-million-year-old archaeological site in the town of Korolevo, about 600 km south-west of Kiev, now provide a clearer picture. According to research published in the journal ‘Nature’(opens in new window), the tools unearthed there belong to ancient humans who used them more than a million years ago. The researchers analysed the layers of sedimentary rock around where the tools were buried. They determined that the chipped tools were buried about 1.42 million years ago.
Eurasia, here we come
“This is the earliest evidence of any type of human in Europe that is dated,” co-author Mads Faurschou Knudsen, a geophysicist at Aarhus University in Denmark, told the ‘Associated Press’(opens in new window). It’s believed the tools belong to Homo erectus, the first of our ancestors to walk upright. “No bones were found at Korolevo, only stone tools. But the age suggests that Homo erectus was the only possible human species at the time,” lead author and Czech Academy of Sciences archaeologist Roman Garba explained in a ‘Reuters’ news item(opens in new window). “We know very little about our earliest ancestors. They used stone tools for butchery and probably used fire.” When Homo erectus made their way to Europe, they found a continent populated with large mammals such as mammoths, rhinos, hippos, hyenas and sabre-toothed cats. “Most likely they were scavengers, looking for carcasses left by hyenas or other predators, but what attracted them to Korolevo was a source of high-quality volcanic rock, very good for making stone tools,” Garba further elaborated.
Go east
The findings suggest that the first humans also arrived in Europe from the east. They inhabited higher latitudes of northern Europe before colonising southern Europe. They left behind stone tools and animal bones. Will Korolevo and other places reveal more hidden treasures in the future, perhaps proof of an even older European human presence? “The question is not ‘if’ but ‘when’ we will find a site of similar or older age somewhere else in Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria or Serbia,” commented Garba.