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Fragment of a human face aged over one million years discovered
- docmechanic 2y ago'The discovery of a human facial fragment aged over one million years represents the oldest known face in western Europe and confirms the region was inhabited by two species of human during the early Pleistocene, finds a new study.'
- llm_nerd 2y agoDidn't humans first leave Africa 100,000 years ago by high estimates? To Western Europe 40,000 years ago? Doesn't this completely upend early humanity?
- eesmith 2y agoHomo but not Homo sapiens. > “The evidence is still insufficient for a definitive classification, which is why it has been assigned to H. aff. erectus. This designation acknowledges Pink’s affinities with Homo erectus while leaving open the possibility that it may belong to another species.” - https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/mar/fragment-human-face-aged-over-one-million-years-discovered https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/mar/fragment-human-face-aged...
- ceejayoz 2y agoNo. Human here means a species in the Homo genus. That includes a lot more than just modern humans.
- diddlybopshubop 2y agoModern humans did. Other human species left Africa and populated the rest of the old world much, much earlier. I'm not up-to-date on my research these days but it's only within the last 10K years or so (maybe even more recent) where there's been one extant human subspecies.
- kingofthehill98 2y agoThe craziest thing for me is that there's a lot of evidence for claiming that Sapiens interbred with other Homos, such as the Neanderthal.
- danielbln 2y agoWhy is that crazy? Looking at human history, this doesn't come as much of a shock, does it?
- checkyoursudo 2y agoHumans do like to fuck.
- dmd 2y agorishathra
- dyauspitr 2y agoInterbred is putting it mildly. More like killed the men and raped all the women. This was repeated again with the Yamnaya from the Caucasus a few millennia ago where they again killed all the men and raped all the women.
- im3w1l 2y agoHow certainly do we actually know that? If the evidence you claim is that there are no Y-chromosomes from other hominids, an alternative explanation could be that hybrids with Y-chromosomes from other hominids did exist, but disappeared gradually over the centuries/millenia either because they were less fit or through pure chance. Are there any now living people with mt-dna from other hominids? Having a minority non-autosomal genotype could be an issue as there might be recurring "compatibility problems", given that the autosomal dna would mainly evolve to work with the majority mtdna and ydna.
- sightbroke 2y agoArticle says this skull fragment is possibly Homo Erectus. This says they left Africa within in that time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_erectus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_erectus This has further details on human evolution: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human#Evolution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human#Evolution This covers in more detail the time modern humans migrated from Africa: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recent_African_origin_of_modern_humans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recent_African_origin_of_moder...
- ge96 2y ago> Ah-ha! But no one has found the missing link between ape and this so called Homo habilis
- IAmBroom 2y agoUsing the term "missing link" instantly flags you as not having a serious evolutionary background. We don't find "missing links". Ever, really. They existed, but the fossil record is far too small a sampling to gift us like that.
- nope85857275 2y ago[dead]
- ge96 2y agoIt's a joke/quote from Futurama
- jyounker 2y agoContext: https://comb.io/osyksW https://comb.io/osyksW
- wileydragonfly 2y agoYeah, but I’d sure like to see one of those wolves that became a whale.
- dyauspitr 2y agoNo the homo genus includes everything from something barely distinguishable from an gorilla all the way to modern humans.
- IAmBroom 2y agoOnly if you can't tell a gorilla from a chimpanzee. Neither are first-cousins to Homo, which is descended from genii since the split from the shoot that Bonobos came from.
- dkarl 2y agoAll homo species are or were bipedal tool users and descended from ancestors that had been bipedal tool users for a million years prior. You wouldn't get them confused with a gorilla.
- dyauspitr 2y agohttps://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/museums/files/2016/10/Homo-habilis-reconstruction.jpg https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/museums/files/2016/10/Homo-habilis-r... Homo habilis looks like a slight shorter haired gorilla.
- IAmBroom 2y agoNo. You're confusing chimps with gorillas.
- dkarl 2y agoHere's video of a gorilla that is famous for its ability and propensity for walking upright. If you want to tell me you would find this "barely distinguishable" from homo habilis, I don't think I'd be doing you a service by believing you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVYzogbTs0w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVYzogbTs0w
- codingwagie 2y agoYou dont still believe that do you?
- eesmith 2y agoMore info in the press release from UCL at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/mar/fragment-human-face-aged-over-one-million-years-discovered https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/mar/fragment-human-face-aged...
- echelon 2y agoInstitutional source with photos: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/mar/fragment-human-face-aged-over-one-million-years-discovered https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/mar/fragment-human-face-aged... Paper with many photos and figures: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08681-0 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08681-0
- mac3n 2y agonow, run that through an AI face de-ager!
- ghostly_s 2y agoOh, facial bones. Now Im less confused. I think the layman would call that a skull fragment.
- dzdt 2y agoAgreed. I was the same place: do they mean an imprint of a face? Or a partially preserved ancient artwork? No, they mean fossilised bone fragments comprising upper mouth and cheekbone areas of a human skull.
- BrenBarn 2y agoYeah I was confused as well. "Face" isn't really a body part, it's more of a perceptual unit. It's just a piece of the front of someone's head.
- erellsworth 2y agoThey don't look a day over 900,000 years.
- mjd 2y agoInsert Joan Rivers joke here