Research unveils early hominin activity in Europe, indicating that humans inhabited the continent much earlier than previously believed.
New research spearheaded by Dr. Sabrina Curran, an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Ohio University, has provided fresh evidence of early hominin activity in Europe, proposing that these ancestors were present on the continent long before what was once thought.
Alongside co-principal investigators Dr. Alexandru Petculescu from the “Emil Racoviţă” Institute of Speleology at the Romanian Academy in Bucharest, and Dr. Claire E. Terhune, an anthropology associate professor at the University of Arkansas, the research team discovered numerous bones marked by cuts believed to be made by early hominins employing stone tools at the site in Grăunceanu, Romania. These markings, estimated to be around 1.95 million years old, represent some of the earliest known instances of tool use and animal butchering in Eurasia.
Published in Nature Communications, this finding significantly revises our understanding of when and how hominins spread throughout Eurasia. While earlier findings pointed to Dmanisi, Georgia, as the earliest site of hominins about 1.8 million years ago, the new evidence from Grăunceanu suggests that these ancestral humans may have roamed certain parts of Eurasia over 2 million years ago.
“These cut marks are important because they push back the timeline for hominin activities in Eurasia,” Curran explained. “Though we have discovered stone tools worldwide, the presence of these markings on bones gives us a valuable insight into the behaviors of early human ancestors.”
The ongoing research enhances findings from earlier excavations in Romania, where significant fossil discoveries occurred in the 1960s and 1980s. The bones, which were preserved in the “Emil Racoviţă” Institute of Speleology and the Museum of Oltenia, had been largely ignored until Dr. Curran and her global team re-examined them recently.
“At first, we didn’t expect to discover much,” remarked Curran. “However, during a routine review of the collections, we came across several bones with cut marks. This led us to further investigate, working alongside Dr. Briana Pobiner of the Smithsonian Institution and Dr. Michael Pante from Colorado State University, uncovering additional marks on various bones that hinted at deliberate butchering actions.”
This revelation is particularly striking since it predates the famous Dmanisi site by about 200,000 years, which had previously been thought to be the earliest evidence of hominin activity outside of Africa. This new research positions Romania as a key site for understanding the spread and behaviors of early human ancestors.
The findings are backed by biostratigraphic data and precision U-Pb dating techniques, which have accurately dated the site. Additionally, Dr. Virgil Drăguşin and the research team utilized isotope analysis to reconstruct the environmental conditions that these early hominins would have encountered, indicating that the area likely experienced seasonal temperature changes similar to today, but possibly with more rainfall.
Curran believes this discovery greatly impacts our perspective on human evolution, suggesting early hominins may have had a broader presence across Eurasia than previously recognized based on more familiar sites in Europe.
“The Grăunceanu site marks a significant advancement in our comprehension of human prehistory,” Curran stated. “It shows that early hominins began to explore and inhabit various environments across Eurasia, indicating an adaptability that was essential for their survival and expansion.”
In addition to the cut-marked bones, Curran’s research team also identified fossils of various species that lived in Romania at that time, providing insights into the environment inhabited by these early humans. The site once teemed with diverse fauna, including saber-toothed cats, giraffes, and even an extinct species of pangolin, showcasing the remarkable biodiversity of the region during the early Pleistocene.
“The evidence from Romania reveals that early hominins were more adaptable than we had believed,” Curran stated. “They were capable of surviving and thriving in a range of environments.”
In addition to their publication in Nature Communications, Curran and her team will share their research findings at the American Association of Biological Anthropologists (AABA) conference in March 2025.
“The narrative of human evolution is far more elaborate and intricate than we once thought, and we are only beginning to uncover many of the chapters in that story.”
