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Science 30 May 1997:
Vol. 276. no. 5317, pp. 1392 - 1395
DOI: 10.1126/science.276.5317.1392
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Reports

A Hominid from the Lower Pleistocene of Atapuerca, Spain: Possible Ancestor to Neandertals and Modern Humans

J. M. Bermúdez de Castro, * J. L. Arsuaga, E. Carbonell, A. Rosas, I. Martínez, M. Mosquera

Human fossil remains recovered from the TD6 level (Aurora stratum) of the lower Pleistocene cave site of Gran Dolina, Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain, exhibit a unique combination of cranial, mandibular, and dental traits and are suggested as a new species of Homo--H. antecessor sp. nov. The fully modern midfacial morphology of the fossils antedates other evidence of this feature by about 650,000 years. The midfacial and subnasal morphology of modern humans may be a retention of a juvenile pattern that was not yet present in H. ergaster. Homo antecessor may represent the last common ancestor for Neandertals and modern humans.

J. M. Bermúdez de Castro and A. Rosas, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC), Departamento de Paleobiología, J. Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain.
J. L. Arsuaga and I. Martínez, Departamento de Paleontología, Facultad de CC Geológicas, Instituto de Geología Económica UCM-CSIC, Unidad Asociada Atapuerca, Grupo de Paleoantropología, CSIC, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
E. Carbonell and M. Mosquera, Laboratori d'Arqueologia, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Unidad Asociada Atapuerca, Grupo de Prehistoria, CSIC, Plaza Imperial Tarraco 1, 43005 Tarragona, Spain.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed.

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