Human Tools 1.4 Million Years Old Found in Ukraine are the Oldest Ever Dated in Europe
The Korolevo archaeological site in Ukraine has become one of the two oldest sites with confirmed human presence in Europe, alongside Barranco León (Granada), where Spanish scientists also discovered a human milk tooth dating back 1.4 million years.
Source: El Mundo
To complete the puzzle of human evolution, palaeontologists use both the fossilised bones of our ancestors and the tools they made. Now, a team of researchers has dated human tools from Korolevo, an important Ukrainian site, as the oldest human-made tools found to date in the territory that is
now Europe.
These artefacts, discovered years ago, were analysed by an international team led by Roman Garba from the Czech Academy of Sciences, who concluded they were made 1.4 million years ago. According to a study published this Wednesday in Nature, these tools would provide the earliest reliable evidence of human presence in Europe.
Caption: Tools found at the Ukrainian site. ROMAN GARBA
However, Atapuerca's co-director, José María Bermúdez de Castro, reminds us that there is a Spanish site where evidence of human occupation with a similar chronology has been found: "In Barranco León
(Orce, Granada), where we have described a human milk tooth, the dating is also 1.4 million years, and the microfauna is consistent with that age. So, Korolevo would be one of the two oldest sites with confirmed human presence in Europe", he explained in an email.
THE CHRONOLOGY OF HUMAN ARRIVAL IN EUROPE
Palaeontologists estimate that hominins arrived in Eurasia between one and two million years ago, but accurately dating when this arrival took place is complicated due to the scarcity of such ancient archaeological sites and the state of fossil preservation.
The Korolevo site, in western Ukraine, has provided Paleolithic tools since the 1970s and is one of the northernmost Early Paleolithic sites, but until now, it had not been precisely dated, and the dating carried out had been met with scepticism from the scientific community.
As Bermúdez de Castro recalls, "Years ago, the researchers at Korolevo, which is a classic site, presented stone tools supposedly made by humans. The scientific community, which did not accept occupations in Europe older than half a million years, rejected this evidence.
Furthermore, there were no consistent dates from Korolevo. When remains were found in TD6 (in the Gran Dolina site at Atapuerca), dated to 850,000 years ago, Korolevo and other sites came back to the forefront and were reasserted. Now, with this new dating method, they have obtained a date of 1.4 million years", he explains.
Caption: Excavations at Korolevo during the 1984-1985 season. NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF UKRAINE.