This, in a nutshell, is the heart of the stoned ape theory, or the idea that our impressive cognitive capabilities, like ...

THE ‘Sima del Elefante’ (‘Chasm of the Elephant’) is a chain of underground caves in a limestone outcrop near Atapuerca, a ...

The oldest in Western Europe, this fractured skull has introduced a series of new questions about early humanity.

For decades, scientists have believed that meat-eating drove human evolution, particularly our enlarged brains.

A groundbreaking discovery in the Sima del Elefante cave, located in the Atapuerca mountains of Spain, is changing what we ...

Learn more about Homo affinis erectus, Western Europe’s oldest human ancestor.

The Sima del Elefante site, in the Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain), has once again been the scene of an extraordinary discovery. A team of researchers has identified a human facial fragment dated ...

The find is significant as it shows similarities to Homo erectus, adding crucial information to the history of human migration. Archaeological excavation work at the Sima del Elefante site in ...

Original fossil of the midface of a hominin assigned to Homo aff. erectus recovered at level TE7 of the Sima del Elefante (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos). / Credit: Maria D. Guillén / IPHES-CERCA ...

The team suspects the specimens belonged to Homo erectus, a species well-known from fossils found in Africa and Asia but whose remains have never been conclusively found in Europe. The mountainous ...

Homo erectus arose around 2 million years ago and moved from Africa ... Nadine Daoud noticed full pots and trays of untouched leftover food lining the shelves of her grandmother’s refrigerator. Too ...

This image provided by the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution in March 2025, shows a fossil of the left midface of a hominin, right, between 1.1 million and 1.4 million ...