Homo antecessor
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Homo antecessor Temporal range: , 1.2–0.8 Ma |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Family: | Hominidae |
| Subfamily: | Homininae |
| Tribe: | Hominini |
| Genus: | Homo |
| Species: | H. antecessor |
| Binomial name | |
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†Homo antecessor Bermúdez de Castro et al., 1997 |
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Homo antecessor is an extinct human species (or subspecies) dating from 1.2 million to 800,000 years ago, that was discovered by Eudald Carbonell, Juan Luis Arsuaga and J. M. Bermúdez de Castro. "The unique mix of modern and primitive traits led the researchers to deem the fossils a new species, H. antecessor, in 1997". Regarding its great age the species must be related to Out of Africa I, the first series of hominin expansions into Eurasia, making it one of the earliest known human species in Europe.
The genus name Homo is the Latin word for "human" whereas the species name antecessor is a Latin word meaning "explorer", "pioneer" or "early settler", assigned to emphasize the belief that these people belonged to the earliest migratory waves as yet known from the European continent.
Various archaeologists and anthropologists have debated how H. antecessor relates to other Homo species in Europe, with suggestions that it was an evolutionary link between H. ergaster and H. heidelbergensis. Some anthropologists suggest H. antecessor may be the last common ancestor of modern humans and Neanderthals (via Homo heidelbergensis) because H. antecessor has a combination of primitive traits typical of earlier Homo and unique features seen in neither Neanderthals or Homo sapiens. Author Richard Klein argues that it was a separate species that evolved from H. ergaster.
Some scientists consider H. antecessor to be the same species as H. heidelbergensis, who inhabited Europe from 600,000 to 250,000 years ago in the . As a complete skull has yet to be unearthed, only fourteen fragments and lower jaw bones exist, these scholars point to the fact, that "most of the known H. antecessor specimens represent children" as "most of the features tying H. antecessor to modern people were found in juveniles, whose bodies and physical features change as they grow up and go through puberty. It’s possible that H. antecessor adults didn’t really look much like H. sapiens at all".
The best-preserved fossil is a maxilla that belonged to a ten-year-old individual found in Spain. Based on palaeomagnetic measurements, it is thought to be older than 857–780 ka. In 1994 and 1995, 80 fossils of six individuals who may have belonged to the species were found in Atapuerca, Spain. At the site were numerous examples of cuts where the flesh had been from the bones, which indicates that H. antecessor may have practiced cannibalism.
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