A group of scientists have discovered the jaw bone of an ancient human species that lived about 1.4 million years ago. The discovery was made in Spain.

A fossil of a partial face from a human ancestor is the oldest in western Europe, archaeologists reported Wednesday. The incomplete skull — a section of the left cheek bone and upper jaw – was found in northern Spain in 2022.

The research team at the Atapuerca archaeological sites in Burgos, Spain, has just broken its own record by discovering, for the third time, the oldest human in Western Europe. The team did so for the first time in 1994,

The discovery is particularly important as it places the arrival of the first populations in Europe before the 'Homo antecessors', whose remains date back approximately 860,000 years. It is a key piece in understanding the evolution of humans on the continent.