Oldest human traces in Europe were found on the Iberian Peninsula

Research into human evolution and migration continually brings discoveries. One of the most fascinating questions is how humans travelled from Africa to Europe. The latest finds at archaeological sites in Orce, located in southern Spain, shed new light on this issue.

The traces of humans found in Orce, dated at 1.3 million years, are the oldest discovered in Europe. This unique find supports the theory that hominids arrived in Europe via Gibraltar. Previously, it was assumed that the migration might have occurred from the east, through the other side of the Mediterranean Sea. This research was conducted by a team led by Lluis Gibert of the University of Barcelona.

The new dating of these traces is based on the analysis of palaeomagnetic data from the Orce region. This technique studies changes in Earth's magnetic poles resulting from its internal dynamics. These changes are recorded in minerals and can be precisely dated.

Thanks to the numerous sedimentary layers found in Orce, the obtained data is extremely precise. This allows scientists to more accurately determine when hominids appeared in Europe, marking another step in unravelling the mysteries of human evolution.

As Gibert explained, the uniqueness of these sites lies in the very long sequence of sedimentary layers, exceeding 80 metres in length, adding that such sites are most often found in caves or very short stratigraphic sequences, which do not allow for the reconstruction of long palaeomagnetic sequences where various magnetic pole reversals can be found.

The researchers also used studies of faunal remains found at various sites in Orce to help establish their findings. The fauna varied depending on the period. It was compared to fauna found at early Pleistocene sites in other parts of Europe.