Vol 452 | 27 March 2008 | doi:10.1038/nature06815 LETTERS The first hominin of Europe Eudald Carbonell1, Jose´ M. Bermu´dez de Castro2, Josep M. Pare´s2,3, Alfredo Pe´rez-Gonza´lez2,4, Gloria Cuenca-Besco´s5, Andreu Olle´1, Marina Mosquera1, Rosa Huguet1, Jan van der Made6, Antonio Rosas6, Robert Sala1, Josep Vallverdu´1, Nuria Garcı´a7,8, Darryl E. Granger9, Marı´a Martino´n-Torres2, Xose´ P. Rodrı´guez1, Greg M. Stock3,10, Josep M. Verge`s1, Ethel Allue´1, Francesc Burjachs1,11, Isabel Ca´ceres1, Antoni Canals1, Alfonso Benito4, Carlos Dı´ez12, Marina Lozano1, Ana Mateos2, Marta Navazo12, Jesu´s Rodrı´guez2, Jordi Rosell1 & Juan L. Arsuaga7,8 The earliest hominin occupation of Europe is one of the most A fragment of hominin mandible and an isolated lower LP4 of the debated topics in palaeoanthropology. However, the purport- same individual were recovered from square I-31 of the TE9C level. edly oldest of the Early Pleistocene sites in Eurasia lack precise The mandible (ATE9-1) consists of the symphyseal region, a portion age control and contain stone tools rather than human fossil of the right corpus from P3 to the alveolus of M1 with an irregular 1–5 remains . Here we report the discovery of a human mandible broken surface, and the basal part of the left corpus from P3 to the associated with an assemblage of Mode 1 lithic tools and faunal level of M1/M2. Some teeth are preserved in situ (Fig. 2 and remains bearing traces of hominin processing, in stratigraphic Supplementary Information). level TE9 at the site of the Sima del Elefante, Atapuerca, The mental foramen is single on both sides and lies at the P3/P4 Spain6–8. Level TE9 has been dated to the Early Pleistocene interalveolar septum. On the preserved part of the corpus, a well- (approximately 1.2–1.1 Myr), based on a combination of palaeo- differentiated torus marginalis is present. Anteriorly, this torus ter- magnetism, cosmogenic nuclides and biostratigraphy. The Sima minates as a well-developed anterior marginal tubercle below the del Elefante site thus emerges as the oldest, most accurately C/P3 (Fig. 2a). In lateral view (Fig. 2c), there is a slight anterior dated record of human occupation in Europe, to our knowledge. mandibular incurvatio of the bone between the alveolar border and The study of the human mandible suggests that the first settle- the base. Thus a modest mentum osseum is expressed. The mental ment of Western Europe could be related to an early demo- trigone is represented by a faint bone elevation along the midline of graphic expansion out of Africa. The new evidence, with the symphysis and a visible mental protuberance. No signs of lateral previous findings in other Atapuerca sites (level TD6 from mental tubercles or mental fossae are present. In anterior view, the Gran Dolina9–13), also suggests that a speciation event occurred lower margin of the symphysis is arched bilaterally, forming a con- in this extreme area of the Eurasian continent during the Early spicuous incisura submentalis. At the midline of the arch, a strong Pleistocene, initiating the hominin lineage represented by the and pointed interdigastric spine projects downwards between the TE9 and TD6 hominins. two disgastric impressions, which are shallow but well defined, and The Sima del Elefante Site is located in the Sierra de Atapuerca, placed at the basal part of the symphysis. On the internal surface of northern Spain, in the proximity of the well-known sites of Gran the symphysis, the alveolar planum exhibits a minimum inclination, Dolina, Galerı´a and Sima de los Huesos (Fig. 1a). All of them have and the superior transverse torus is absent. However, on the right side yielded hominin fossils attributed to the species Homo antecessor a modest but clear alveolar prominence below P3–P4 is observed. In (approximately 0.8 Myr9–13) in Gran Dolina and Homo heidelbergen- superior view, the alveolar portion of the corpus tends to diverge to sis in Galerı´a14 and Sima de los Huesos15–17. form a parabolic arc, being more open than in early African Homo The Sima del Elefante site is a cave 18 m deep and up to 15 m specimens such as OH 13, KNM-ER 1802 and UR 501, or in the wide6,7, infilled with clastic deposits. The sedimentary sequence is Dmanisi mandibles. The thickness of the corpus of ATE9-1 at the 12 formed by 16 lithostratigraphic units (Fig. 1b) mostly made by debris M1 level is similar to that of ATD6-96 from Gran Dolina and falls at flow deposits. Entrance clast-supported debris flows correspond to the lower limit of the range of the African Early and Middle proximal facies, whereas deposits with higher content of brown and Pleistocene Homo specimens18. The height of the corpus of ATE9-1 reddish-brown clays (HUE 7.5YR or 5YR) correspond to distal facies, at the P3/P4 level is modest and far from the extreme values seen in derived from terra-rossa slope soils. many other Pleistocene specimens such as those from Tighenif, We report on the palaeoanthropological, archaeological and Sangiran and D 2600 from Dmanisi (Table 1). The C, P3 and P4 palaeontological record of level TE9, including geochronological exhibit single roots of Tomes’ root form (category 1R19), with a and biostratigraphic data at Sima del Elefante, which together groove along the mesiolingual root surface. The crown of LP4 pre- document the oldest-known site in Europe with hominin fossils sents an oval outline with a distolingual talonid, and the tip of the and human activity. lingual cusp is mesial to the tip of the larger buccal cusp. 1Institut Catala` de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolucio´ Social, A`rea de Prehisto`ria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Plac¸a Imperial Tarraco 1, 43005 Tarragona, Spain. 2Centro Nacional de Investigacio´n sobre Evolucio´n Humana, Avenida de la Paz 28, 09004 Burgos, Spain. 3Department of Geological Sciences, University of Michigan, 2534 CCL Building, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA. 4Departamento de Geodina´mica, Facultad de Ciencias Geolo´gicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain. 5A´rea de Paleontologı´a, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Zaragoza, c/ Pedro Cerbuna, 12, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain. 6Departamento de Paleobiologı´a, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, C.S.I.C., Jose´ G. Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain. 7Departamento de Paleontologı´a, Facultad de Ciencias Geolo´gicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain. 8Centro de Investigacio´n (UCM-ISCIII) de Evolucio´n y Comportamiento Humanos, c/ Sinesio Delgado, 4 (Pabello´n 14), 28029 Madrid, Spain. 9Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA. 10Yosemite National Park, 5083 Foresta Road, PO Box 700, El Portal, California 95318, USA. 11Institucio´ Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avanc¸ats, Plac¸a Imperial Tarraco 1, 43005 Tarragona, Spain. 12Laboratorio de Prehistoria, Edificio I1D1i, Universidad de Burgos, Plaza Misael Ban˜uelos s/n, 09001 Burgos, Spain. 465 © 2008 Nature Publishing Group LETTERS NATURE | Vol 452 | 27 March 2008 The morphology of the anterior surface of the symphysis and the chert flakes that seem to belong to the same core. The reduction position of the anterior marginal tubercle suggest similarities sequence was devoted to producing simple flakes ranging between between ATE9-1 and early Homo specimens like OH 7, OH13, 30 mm and 75 mm long. Artefacts were detached by direct hard- KNM ER 730 and UR 501, and especially with those of Dmanisi. hammer percussion on hand-held, medium-sized cores. Knapping However, the morphology of the posterior surface of the symphysis strategies were simple, and they tended to remove the irregularities and the shape of the alveolar part of the corpus are clearly derived in and shape the blank to obtain a single striking platform. Flakes show these hominins (see Supplementary Information, Mandible plane rather than cortical butts, and dorsal scars are parallel to the Discussion). Although the symphysis is not represented in the cur- flake extraction axis, which indicates unidirectional knapping rent TD6 hominin hypodigm, so we cannot make the pertinent (Fig. 3a–c). comparisons, we assign ATE9-1 provisionally to Homo antecessor10. The faunal assemblage6,7,20,21 (see Supplementary Table 1) provides The lithic assemblage includes 32 artefacts: four simple flakes, five valuable chronological information. The mustelid Pannonictis is a waste flakes (debris) and 23 indeterminate items made of Neogene typical Plio-Pleistocene taxon, and the species P. nestii is a likely and Cretaceous chert, both raw materials available within 2 km of candidate as a last survivor of the genus, which might reach the late the archaeological site. There are many indeterminate pieces, owing Early Pleistocene. In size and in cranial and dental morphology, to the chemical weathering particularly suffered by the Neogene the specimens from TE level 9 resemble P. nestii from the site of 22 chert. Pietrafitta (Italy), dated to around 1.4 Myr , suggesting the fossils Hominins probably knapped inside the cave, as deduced from the in TE9 are closer in age to the Italian site than to the last occurrence of 23 20 presence of small waste flakes and two medium-sized Cretaceous this species . The murid Castillomys, found in TE levels 8–14 , has its latest appearance in localities such as Barranco Leo´n, with a Matuyama age1. The rodents and insectivores of levels TE9–TE13 are primitive compared with those present in Cromerian localities a Bay of Biscay (around 1.0–0.6 Myr); that is, they include advanced forms of nce Mimomys savini as well as Microtus species that are absent in levels Fra TE8–TE1321,24. Also, the A/L index (the relative length of the ante- Burgos b Lithostratigraphy roconid complex in relation to the anteroposterior length of the Sierra de Atapuerca tooth) of the Allophaiomys first lower molar found at Sima del Hanging wall al g Madrid Elefante resembles that of Allophaiomys measured at Fuente Nueva 0 250 km 16 Portu 3, Pietrafitta, Pirro Nord and Monte Peglia.