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The earliest human face of Western Europe

Nature volume 640, pages 707–713 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Who the first inhabitants of Western Europe were, what their physical characteristics were, and when and where they lived are some of the pending questions in the study of the settlement of Eurasia during the Early Pleistocene epoch. The available palaeoanthropological information from Western Europe is limited and confined to the Iberian Peninsula1,2. Here we present most of the midface of a hominin found at the TE7 level of the Sima del Elefante site (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain), dated to between 1.4 million and 1.1 million years ago. This fossil (ATE7-1) represents the earliest human face of Western Europe identified thus far. Most of the morphological features of the midface of this hominin are primitive for the Homo clade and they do not display the modern-like aspect exhibited by Homo antecessor found at the neighbouring Gran Dolina site, also in the Sierra de Atapuerca, and dated to between 900,000 and 800,000 years ago3. Furthermore, ATE7-1 is more derived in the nasoalveolar region than the Dmanisi and other roughly contemporaneous hominins. On the basis of the available evidence, it is reasonable to assign the new human remains from TE7 level to Homo aff. erectus. From the archaeological, palaeontological and palaeoanthropological information obtained in the lower levels of the Sima del Elefante and Gran Dolina sites4,5,6,7,8, we suggest a turnover in the human population in Europe at the end of the Early Pleistocene.

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Fig. 1: Stratigraphic section of Sima del Elefante, with the location of human remains recovered from levels TE9 and TE7.
Fig. 2: Specimen ATE7-1.
Fig. 3: Frontal view of the virtual reconstruction of ATE7-1.
Fig. 4: Faunal remains and lithic artefacts from level TE7 of Sima del Elefante.

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Data availability

Correspondence and requests data/materials should be addressed to R.H., X.P.R.-Á., J.M.B.d.C. and M.M.-T.

Change history

  • 01 April 2025

    In the version of Supplementary Information originally published alongside this article, the legends for Supplementary Figs. 4.2, 4.5, 4.6, and 4.9 were truncated, and are now amended in the revised Supplementary Information available online.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge all of the members of the Atapuerca research team involved in the recovery and study of the archaeological and palaeontological record from Sima del Elefante site. The research of the Atapuerca sites is founding by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and European Regional Development Fund “ERDF A way of making Europe” (projects PID2021-122355NB-C31, PID2021-122355NB-C32, PID2021-22355NB-C33). Fieldwork at Sima del Elefante is supported by the Junta de Castilla y León and the Fundación Atapuerca. The Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA) has received financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the María de Maeztu program for Units of Excellence (CEX2019-000945-M). We acknowledge support from the Catalan Government (AGAUR, projects 2021-SGR-01237, 2021-SGR-01238 and 2021-SGR-01239) and Universitat Rovira i Virgili (2023PFR-URV-01237, 2023PFR-URV-01238 and 2023PFR-URV-01239). M.M.-T. receives funding from The Leakey Foundation through the personal support of D. Crook. Part of the hominin analyses were carried out at the laboratories of the CENIEH-ICTS with the support of the CENIEH staff. The research of J.M.L.-G. and H.-A.B. was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and European Regional Development Fund (project PID2021-122533NB-I00). E.S. received funding from Fundación Atapuerca. C.N.-L. was supported by a Juan de la Cierva formation contract (FJC2020-044561-l; MCIN cofinanced by the NextGeneration EU/PRTR). L.M.-F. is supported by Horizon Program-Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions of the EU Ninth programme (2021–2027) under the HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01-Project: 101060482 and MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and “ERDF A way of making Europe”. J.G. is the beneficiary of a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (ESP-1235332-HFST-P). J.v.d.M. benefited from grant Synthesys AT-TAF-3663. The research of A.R.-H. is supported by the grant RYC2022-037802-I funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the FSE invests in your future. A.B. was supported by a Juan de la Cierva—Incorporación contract IJC2019-041546-I and by the grant RYC2022-037783-I. A.P. is supported by the LATEUROPE project (ERC Consolidator Grant ID101052653). A.M. acknowledges the Shota Rustaveli Georgian National Science Foundation (grant YS-21-1595). All of the photographs of the archaeological and palaeontological remains of Sima del Elefante were taken by M. D. Guillén (IPHES-CERCA). The stratigraphic sections of Sima del Elefante were drawn by R. Pérez-Martínez. We thank G. Zorrilla-Revilla and P. Mateo-Lomba for assistance on the microscopy analysis of archaeological remains.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA), Tarragona, Spain

    Rosa Huguet, Xosé Pedro Rodríguez-Álvarez, Josep Vallverdú, Juan Manuel López-García, Marina Lozano, Isabel Expósito, Andreu Ollé, Palmira Saladié, Elena Moreno-Ribas, Ethel Allué, Carmen Núñez-Lahuerta, Hugues-Alexandre Blain, Isabel Cáceres, Antonio Rodríguez-Hidalgo, Amèlia Bargalló, Marina Mosquera, Antonio Pineda & Eudald Carbonell

  2. Departament d’Història i Història de l’Art, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Tarragona, Spain

    Rosa Huguet, Xosé Pedro Rodríguez-Álvarez, Josep Vallverdú, Juan Manuel López-García, Marina Lozano, Isabel Expósito, Andreu Ollé, Palmira Saladié, Elena Moreno-Ribas, Ethel Allué, Carmen Núñez-Lahuerta, Hugues-Alexandre Blain, Isabel Cáceres, Amèlia Bargalló, Marina Mosquera & Eudald Carbonell

  3. Unit associated to CSIC. Departamento de Paleobiología, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid, Spain

    Rosa Huguet, Josep Vallverdú & Palmira Saladié

  4. Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Burgos, Spain

    María Martinón-Torres, Elena Santos, Laura Martín-Francés, Josep Maria Parés & José María Bermúdez de Castro

  5. Anthropology Department, University College London, London, UK

    María Martinón-Torres

  6. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Internacional Isabel I de Castilla (Ui1), Burgos, Spain

    Marcos Terradillos-Bernal

  7. Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Madrid, Spain

    Elena Santos, Juan Marín & Juan Luis Arsuaga

  8. Fundación Atapuerca, Ibeas de Juarros, Burgos, Spain

    Elena Santos

  9. Departamento de Historia, Universidad de Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain

    Arturo de Lombera-Hermida

  10. Centro de Investigación Interuniversitario das Paisaxes Atlánticas Culturais (CISPAC), Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Arturo de Lombera-Hermida

  11. Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Laura Martín-Francés

  12. Aragosaurus-IUCA, Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain

    Carmen Núñez-Lahuerta & Julia Galán

  13. Departamento de Geología, Facultad de Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea UPV/EHU, Leioa, Spain

    Carmen Núñez-Lahuerta

  14. Departamento de Paleobiología, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales-CSIC, Madrid, Spain

    Jan van der Made

  15. Abteilung Messelforschung und Mammalogie, Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Julia Galán

  16. Instituto de Arqueología-Mérida (CSIC-Junta de Extremadura), Mérida, Spain

    Antonio Rodríguez-Hidalgo

  17. Departamento de Historia Facultad de Geografía e Historia, Universidad Nacional y Educación a Distancia (UNED), Madrid, Spain

    Juan Marín

  18. UMR 7194 HNHP (MNHN-CNRS-UPVD), Département Homme et Environnement, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France

    Antonio Pineda

  19. Georgian National Museum, Tiblisi, Georgia

    David Lordkipanidze & Ann Margveslashvili

  20. Ivane Javakshishvili Tiblisi State University, Tiblisi, Georgia

    David Lordkipanidze & Ann Margveslashvili

  21. The University of Georgia, Tbilisi, Georgia

    Ann Margveslashvili

  22. Departamento de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain

    Juan Luis Arsuaga

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  1. Rosa Huguet
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Contributions

R.H., X.P.R.-Á., M.M.-T. and J.M.B.d.C. performed the conceptualization. R.H and X.P.R.-Á. edited and coordinated the manuscript and the fieldwork of Sima del Elefante. J.V. contributed to geology, sedimentology and micromorphology. J.M.B.d.C., M.M.-T., M.L., E.S. and L.M.-F. contributed to palaeoanthropology. E.S. and L.M.-F. contributed to virtual reconstruction. E.M.-R. contributed to preservation and conservation. X.P.R.-Á., M.T.-B., A.O., A.d.L.-H., A.B., M.M and E.C. contributed to stone tool technology. R.H., P.S., I.C., A.R.-H., J.M. and A.P. contributed to zooarchaeology and taphonomy. J.M.L.-G., C.N.-L., J.G., H.-A.B. and J.v.d.M. contributed to palaeontology. I.E. and E.A. contributed to archaeobotany. J.M.P. contributed to geochronology. D.L. and A.M. provided comparative samples. E.C., J.M.B.d.C. and J.L.A. directed the excavations.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Rosa Huguet, Xosé Pedro Rodríguez-Álvarez or José María Bermúdez de Castro.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature thanks G. Philip Rightmire, Amélie Vialet and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Extended data figures and tables

Extended Data Fig. 1 Comparison of the zygomaxillary border and the zygomaxillary tubercle.

Frontal view of the virtual reconstruction of a) ATE7-1, b) D2282, c) D2700, d) ATD6−69, e) D4500, f) Sangiran 17 and g) ATD6−58. White arrow points to the zygomaxillary border which is curved in H. antecessor (d,g) and straight in the rest of the specimens, including ATE7-1. Red arrow points to the presence of a zygomaxillary tubercle in ATD6−69 and ATD6-58, a feature that seems to be absent in ATE7−1 and in the Early Pleistocene specimens from Dmanisi and Sangiran portrayed for comparison.

Extended Data Fig. 2 Comparison of the slope of the infraorbital plate and the lateral nasal margin.

Lateral view of the virtual reconstruction of a) ATE7−1, b) D2282, c) KNM-ER-3733, d) ATD6-69, e) D4500 and f) Sangiran 17. The lateral nasal margin of H. antecessor is curved, whereas this profile is straight in the rest of the specimens (dashed line 1). The infraorbital plate slopes in an anterior-inferior direction except in ATD6-69, where this surface slopes slightly backwards (dashed line 2).

Extended Data Fig. 3 Comparison of the maxillary flexion.

Virtual reconstruction of ATE7−1 and ATD6-69. a) ATE7−1 superior (left) and inferior (right) view, b) ATD6-69 superior (left) and inferior (right). The arrows and the dash lines indicate the differences in the maxillary flexion between both fossils. Whereas the flexion is present in ATD6-69, this feature is absent in ATE7-1.

Extended Data Fig. 4 General comparison of ATE7-1 with Early Pleistocene specimens from Africa and Eurasia in lateral view.

Lateral view of the superimposition of the virtual reconstruction of ATE7-1 with a) D2282, b) KNM-ER-3733, c) ATD6-69, d) D4500 and e) Sangiran 17. The comparative fossils are in ghost texture while ATE7 is shown in opaque texture. In this figure it is possible to observe that ATE7-1 shares the same rectilinear morphology of the nasal lateral margin as the comparative specimens except for ATD6-69, which has a curved profile. The morphological differences are also obvious with D4500 because of the long and strongly sloped clivus in the Dmanisi specimen versus the shorter and relatively less inclined clivus in ATE7-1.

Extended Data Fig. 5 Comparison of the nasal lateral margin in ATE7-1 and ATD6-69.

Lateral view of the superimposition of the virtual reconstruction of ATE7-1 (opaque texture) and ATD6-69 (ghost texture). The superimposition highlights the straight course of the nasal lateral margin in ATE7-1 versus the more curved trajectory in ATD6-69.

Extended Data Fig. 6 General comparison of ATE7-1 with Early Pleistocene specimens from Africa and Eurasia in frontal view.

Frontal view of the superimposition of the virtual reconstruction of ATE7-1 with a) D2282, b) KNM-ER-3733, c) ATD6-58, d) ATD6-69, e) D4500 and f) Sangiran 17 (mirror reconstruction). The comparative fossils are in ghost texture while ATE7-1 is shown in opaque texture. The comparison highlights the larger facial width of the Early Pleistocene fossils from Africa and Asia due to the anterior projection of their zygomatic bone in comparison to the narrower midface of ATE7-1. Note that the comparison with d) may be influenced by the immature state of this individual.

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Huguet, R., Rodríguez-Álvarez, X.P., Martinón-Torres, M. et al. The earliest human face of Western Europe. Nature 640, 707–713 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08681-0

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