A recent investigation has placed Orce (Baza basin, Granada, Spain) as the oldest human site in Europe, thanks to an innovative dating study based on paleomagnetism analysis. This method has been applied in a previously unsampled area of the region, protected from the erosion that has affected the basin for millennia.

The technique, which is based on the study of the reversal of the planet’s magnetic poles recorded in minerals, has allowed for the establishment of specific time periods from various magnetic events.

The data obtained are highly precise, thanks to the extensive sedimentary sequence of more than eighty meters that outcrops in Orce. The peculiarity of these sites lies in their stratification within a long sedimentary sequence, which contrasts with the sites typically found in caves or short stratigraphic sequences that do not allow for the development of extensive paleomagnetic sequences capable of identifying various magnetic reversals, explained Lluís Gibert, researcher and professor at the Faculty of Earth Sciences of the University of Barcelona.

Site of Fuente Nueva 3
Site of Fuente Nueva 3. Credit: Lluís Gilbert / Universitat de Barcelona

Researchers have managed to identify a magnetic polarity sequence with five distinct events, placing the three Orce sites with human presence between the Olduvai and Jaramillo subchrons, that is, between 1.77 and 1.07 million years.

Subsequently, a statistical model was applied to precisely refine the chronology of the different stratigraphic levels, with a margin of error of only 70,000 years. The results place Venta Micena as the oldest site with human presence in Europe, with an age of 1.32 million years, followed by Barranco León, with 1.28 million years, and Fuente Nueva 3, with 1.23 million years. With these data, the Sima del Elefante site in Atapuerca would be relegated to second place, with an age 0.2 to 0.4 million years more recent, added Gibert.

To complement the dating, the study also analyzed the fauna found in the different Orce sites, comparing it with that of other Early Pleistocene sites in Europe. Expert Robert Martin conducted a detailed analysis of micromammals and large mammals, using paleontological collections stored at the Museum of the Catalan Institute of Paleontology Miguel Crusafont (IPS) in Sabadell. The results show that the small and large fauna of Orce is more primitive than that of Sima del Elefante, where the rodent Allophaiomys lavocati is more evolved than the Allophaiomys found in Orce, detailed Gibert.

Photo of the last excavations carried out at the site of Venta Micena 3 in Orce in 1992, where the first human remains were discovered
Photo of the last excavations carried out at the site of Venta Micena 3 in Orce in 1992, where the first human remains were discovered. Credit: Lluís Gilbert / Universitat de Barcelona

Another key indicator of the age of the Orce sites is the absence of pig ancestors. These animals, considered Asian immigrants, have not been found in any European site dating between 1 and 1.5 million years, while they are present at Sima del Elefante, supporting the idea that the Orce fauna is older, explained the researcher.

This new dating adds to other evidence suggesting that the colonization of Europe was carried out through the Strait of Gibraltar, rather than the alternative route through Asia. Among the evidence supporting this hypothesis is the similarity of the lithic industry of Orce with that of North Africa and the presence of African fauna remains in the south of the peninsula, such as those of Hippopotamus and Theropithecus oswaldi, an African primate similar to a baboon found in Victoria cave, near Cartagena (Murcia). These findings are non-existent anywhere else in Europe.

We also defend the hypothesis that the first humans arrived in Europe from Gibraltar because no older evidence has been found at any other site along the alternative route, concluded Gibert.

Human expansion from Africa
Human expansion from Africa. Credit: Lluís Gilbert / Universitat de Barcelona

SOURCES

Universitat de Barcelona

Luis Gibert et al., Magnetostratigraphic dating of earliest hominin sites in Europe, Earth-Science Reviews (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2024.104855

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