Early Hominids of Europe
The Abbevillian became the European Acheulean and the Clactonian at about 500,000 ya. To avoid the question of what culture name should be used to describe European artifacts, some, such as Schick and Toth, refer to "non-handaxe" and "handaxe" sites. Handaxes came into use at about the 500,000 ya mark. Non-handaxe sites are often the same sites as handaxe sites, the difference being one of time, or, if geographically different, have no discernible spatial pattern. The hominins therefore are the same. The physical evidence is summarized in the table below, with links to the appropriate Wikipedia and other articles. Note that the dates assigned vary widely after 700,000 ya and, except where substantiated by scientific methods, should be viewed as tentative and on the speculative side.
| Site | Names | Notes | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arago Cave near the village of Tautavel in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France. | Arago Man; Tautavel Man; Homo erectus tautavelensis; Archaic Homo sapiens; Homo heidelbergensis; Arago n, where n is a catalog number assigned to the bone. |
A community of about 100 individuals discovered over the years in the ongoing excavations of the cave by a team of the Centre Européen de Recherches Préhistoriques de Tautavel under the direction of Henry de Lumley. Excavations began in 1964, the first mandible came to light in 1969, and the first "Tautavel Man" in 1971, though in fact many subsequent Tautavel men and women appeared. The date range is a fairly secure 690,000-300,000 years ago by many methods. The prevailing view is that the fossils are intermediary to the Neanderthals. Tools were found as well. | Prehistoric Man, Active x site with sound and animation. The Tautavel Man Nature, various articles and abstracts. A New Look at the Human Past |
| Barnfield Pit near Swanscombe in Kent, England | Swanscombe Man (female); Homo sapiens; Homo swanscombensis; Homo heidelbergensis; Homo erectus; Archaic Homo sapiens; Acheulean Man |
Portions of a skull excavated from a gravel pit by Alvin T. Marston in 1935-36 along with handaxes and animal bones. Two more pieces and some charcoal were found in 1955 by John Wymer. Estimated date 250,000 ya. | Swanscombe Barnfield Pit Clactonian Swanscombe EARLY PREHISTORIC PEOPLES IN THE DARTFORD AREA Prehistoric Dartford |
| Boxgrove, outside Chichester, Great Britain. | Homo heidelbergensis | Shin bone & two teeth found in 1994, 1996 in a quarry, with butchered animal bones & handaxes, ca. 500,000 ya. | Boxgrove Homo antecessor Boxgrove Boxgrove Home Page |
| Mauer near Heidelberg, Germany | Homo Heidelbergensis; Heidelberg Man; Mauer Jaw |
Lower jaw & tooth discovered 1907 in a gravel pit. Dated to 600,000-250,000 ya. | Homo heidelbergensis Homo antecessor Mauer 1 Archaic Homo sapiens Heidelberg Man Homo heidelbergensis |
| Petralona in Chalcidice, Greece. | Homo heidelbergensis; Homo neanderthalensis; Archanthropus mausoleum; Archanthropus europaeus petralonsiensis; Homo erectus petralonensis; Petralona 1. |
Skull found in a cave with animal bones, stone tools and evidence of fire in 1960. Studied by Aris Poulianos, given various dates. ESR date range is 240,000-160,000, but all other fossils associated indicate a much older date range circa 700,000-800,000. | Aris Poulianos Spilaio Archantropon Petralona Petralona Cave Petralona 1 ESR-dating of the fossil hominid cranium from Petralona... Petralona PETRALONA PROVIDES Α NEW DATING... |
| Sima de los huesos, "pit of bones", a chimney site in a cave, one of many fossil hominin sites in the hills of Atapuerca, Castile-Leon, Spain | Homo heidelbergensis | About 4000 hominin bones from which about 30 individuals have been reconstructed since the mid-1970s. Bones of carnivores are mixed in. A handaxe was found in 1998. Date is 500,000-350,000 ya. | Atapuerca The First Europeans Infants, cannibals, and the pit of bones Disaster may have killed ancients |
| Steinheim an der Murr, north of Stuttgart, Germany. | Homo heidelbergensis; Homo steinheimensis; Steinheim Man; Archaic Homo sapiens; Homo sapiens praesapius. |
Skull found in 1933 by Karl Sigrist, currently dated to about 250,000 ya. | Steinheim an der Murr Steinheim Skull Lower Palaeolithic Steinheim |
| Vértesszőlős, Vértesszőlős, near Budapest |
Homo erectus paleohungaricus; Homo sapiens paleohungaricus; Vértesszőlős Man; Samuel; Samu |
Occipital bone and a few teeth excavated 1964-65 in a quarry by László Vértes. The site was in the open and used for butchery. Human fossils were with a hearth, dwelling, tools, footprints, plant and animal fossils. | Vértesszőlős Vértesszőlős prehistoric man colony |
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