1 Million Year Old Human Remains: Oldest Ever, FOUND in Northern Spain

1 Million Year Old Human Remains: Oldest Ever, FOUND in Northern Spain

www.nytimes.com

Excavations in a cave in the mountains of northern Spain have uncovered the oldest known remains of human ancestors in Western Europe, scientists reported Wednesday.

The fossils of a lower jaw and teeth, more than 1.1 million years old, were found in sediments along with stone tools and animal bones that appeared to have been butchered. The remains have been attributed to the previously known species Homo antecessor, a possible ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans.

...

Until now, the earliest remains of Homo antecessor, found in the same mountains, were 800,000 years old. Far to the east, in the republic of Georgia, recent fossil discoveries show that early Homo had moved into parts of Eurasia from Africa about 1.9 million years ago.

(visit the link for the full news article)

I'm always amazed when I'm reminded that our species has millions of years of adventurous prehistoric living in our genetic memory.

Having lived that long ago, human ancestors would have lived through the Pleistocene era... time of Giant Bears!

Wooly Rhinoceros!

Giant Birds!
and

Giant Beavers!

www.nytimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 27-3-2008 by NewWorldOver]

Thats pretty amazing hey. Its kinda hard to believe that we have been around for that long. I wonder how much different they were from us.

-fm

Wow, an article about finding a moon that is very promising for life, and now this article pushing our human origins again back further, what a good night!

Thanks for posting!

Do you know how Homo Antecessor compares in strength and intelligence to Neanderthal and Sapiens?

Also that bear is huge! Jesus.. I hope the antecessors were 'one up' on the Neanderthals

I don't know why, but I have a feeling that I already knew about this, or that I have read this news long time ago....


What always perplexes me when we come to realize the ancient animals in our world is that there seems to have been a huge number of GIANTS species in the past.

Why is that?

Some say it's just because they had more food back then, but that doesn't answer it all...

In my humble (and possibly not fully aware) opinion the gravity was way, WAY lower back then... Why? I can't imagine...

But that's a good subject to start a thread, right?

Peace

Originally posted by Sator

But that's a good subject to start a thread, right?

Research the hell out of it. The different eras. Research gravity and the Earth's electromagnetic field, and or anything else that might be pertinent. And yeah, I think that just might make for a killer thread To be honest I have been wondering exactly what you're wondering for a while now! It's very interesting..

From what I see all the creatures where bigger back then, and progressively become smaller as they reach modern era.

If it was the result of a natural Earthly phenomenom, and that stuff works in cycles as most Earthly stuff does, then what if whatever was causing, or perhaps not causing, that size difference, starts again with a new cycle. Will all the creatures on Earth start to get bigger again? How long will it take? If it's gravity related and that cycle starts over, would we in affect start flying all over the place?

Alright i'm way tired and off to bed. But I encourage that thread, I say go for it

Originally posted by Sator
What always perplexes me when we come to realize the ancient animals in our world is that there seems to have been a huge number of GIANTS species in the past.

Why is that?

Some say it's just because they had more food back then, but that doesn't answer it all...

I think it's because the Earth was still in post Big Bang stabilization period.
The world was like a lush forest back then, like a massive and global greenhouse with very little direct sunlight because of the ever present foggy environment.

This is slowly unraveling anything we have thought about in the past for our species, makes me wonder just how old humans are exactly . Wonder if we will ever be able to put a date on how old our species is.

Originally posted by Sator
I don't know why, but I have a feeling that I already knew about this, or that I have read this news long time ago....

There's another thread on this topic in the Other Current Events forum which probably explains why it seems familiar to you.

oldest known human fossil found

Originally posted by Sator
What always perplexes me when we come to realize the ancient animals in our world is that there seems to have been a huge number of GIANTS species in the past.

Why is that?

Some say it's just because they had more food back then, but that doesn't answer it all...

In my humble (and possibly not fully aware) opinion the gravity was way, WAY lower back then... Why? I can't imagine...

But that's a good subject to start a thread, right?

Peace

well no, it wasn't gravity. scientific research has proposed that way back before modern humans Earth's atmosphere was rich and the ozone layer was 7times as thick. I watched it on a science program and read it somewhere else. so far from what i know only one scientist has been able to recreate the experiment where plantation was grown and cultivated in a similar early earth environment. Why does atmospheric presure and thicker ozone layer increase size? I don't know you'll have to do some research or ask a scientist yourself for that one lol.

Originally posted by Alxandro

The world was like a lush forest back then, like a massive and global greenhouse with very little direct sunlight because of the ever present foggy environment.

There is still plenty of areas on Earth that describe exactly like that tho. And their inhabitants are not godzillas, giant bears, or nephilim's. It's gotta be something else.

Originally posted by Obsurion
Why does atmospheric presure and thicker ozone layer increase size?

What kind of affects does atmospheric pressure have? Kinda sounds to me like gravity lol..

I suppose a thicker ozone means it would have something to do with solar radiation then? Or perhaps more elements were getting trapped and reused? I don't know, this is out of my league

Originally posted by Sator
Why is that?

Regarding the Ice Age megafauna, it's pretty simple. A large body conserves heat better than a small one. This is countered by the fact that a large body needs more food to support its mass. So we get these "giant" species in the cold-temperate zone, where temperatures are cold but there's still plenty of food to go around.

We still see this today, with moose, bear, wolves, bison, etc, all at their largest in northern forests, and drastically decreasing in size when you travel north to colder climes (with less food) or south to warmer climes (where less body mass is more efficient)

There's also the possibility that these large animals weren't actual "species" in their own right, but were in fact just hte upper end of sizes found in modern species... and were hunted to extinction by meat-hungry humans. Much as how our oceanic fishing industry has resulted in smaller fish being hte genetic backbone of entire species, resulting in reduced sizes...

I think you misinterpreted the article, at least as indicated by your title.

These are the oldest fossil remains of this human ancestor ever found in Western Europe.

It is already known that humans coexisted with the species you name.

Human ancestors in the species Homo are known to have existed for much longer than this and to have migrated to Europe much sooner.

Until now, the earliest remains of Homo antecessor, found in the same mountains, were 800,000 years old. Far to the east, in the republic of Georgia, recent fossil discoveries show that early Homo had moved into parts of Eurasia from Africa about 1.9 million years ago.

/2kggy8

Originally posted by TheWalkingFox

We still see this today, with moose, bear, wolves, bison, etc, all at their largest in northern forests, and drastically decreasing in size when you travel north to colder climes (with less food) or south to warmer climes (where less body mass is more efficient)

That makes sense to me on the surface but

Lions, Gorillas, Bison, Rhinocerus, Hippos, Giraffes, Elephants..

I am pretty sure they live in warmer climates too?..

Or do you mean in those paticular families the larger of species will be in colder climates? If so, is that the case with Elephants?

Originally posted by Sator

What always perplexes me when we come to realize the ancient animals in our world is that there seems to have been a huge number of GIANTS species in the past.

Why is that?

Peace

Small species tend to evolve when there are insufficient resources and crowding, such as on isolated islands; so maybe where there are sustained plentiful resources, giant species evolve.

i've heard a lot about giants lately too, maybe a new thread would be cool, as far as the remains go, it's all very interesting, i wonder how they found them?

i also wonder if i went outside and started digging, and just kept on going, would i find anything?? or would it just be 5 year old chocolate wrappers and dog poo?

reckon i'm gonna get my shovel!