An archaeology breakthrough has been found in Romania leading researchers to believe these finds further support the idea of “out of Africa” migrations.
These migrations took place during a period which preceded the presumed exit of Homo erectus from the African continent about 1.8 to 1.9 million years ago.
Researchers believe these items may have belonged to individuals who were making stone tools.
The discovery included the presence of ancient hominins dating back two million years.
The find puts Romania on the archaeological map after this new evidence was uncovered at the Valea lui Grăunceanu site in Vâlcea County.
The area is now being recognised as being the oldest European site showing traces of activity by hominins, according to HotNews.
The area is now being recognised as the oldest European site showing traces of activity by hominins.
Researchers’ analysis confirmed this discovery with the presence of traces of human activity. They examined the find using high-resolution microscopes.
According to ProTV News, nearly 5,000 fossils were examined to help identify any artificial modifications on their surfaces.
The analysis confirmed clear evidence of hominins in the form of anthropic modifications on the surface of the bones.
Archaeological research began in the Valea lui Grăunceanu, also known as the Greuceanu Valley, around 60 years ago.
The research team included scientists from several countries, including Romania and the Republic of Moldova.
Recently, an international team of researchers from America, the UK, Moldova, Australia, Sweden, and Romania reexamined fossil segments collected in the area, using microscopes and also a uranium-lead dating method – one of the most effective radiometric dating methods used for objects older than one million years, as reported by Gandul.
Study authors wrote of their reexamination, reporting “the incisions appear in anatomical positions indicating defleshing, which betrays a deliberate operation to remove soft tissues from bones, implying the presence of a hominin species capable of using tools for this purpose,” as per HotNews.
These findings surpass previously recorded European sites home to the oldest human fossils found in both Spain and Turkey.
The oldest European site yielding human fossils was found at Barranco León 1.5 million years ago.
Archaeological sites in Kocabaş and Sima del Elefante found human fossils dating back 1.3–1.1 and 1.2–1.1 million years, respectively.
The study authors wrote in the publication Nature: “The evidence we had so far indicated the presence of early representatives of the genus Homo in Georgia, at Dmanisi, within a timeframe of about 1.77 to 1.8 million years ago.”