The oldest human fossils have been found in Britain. The leg bone and teeth of an early human species were found 30 years ago at Boxgrove in West Sussex.
The ancient men and women were known to have hunted horses, deer and rhinos. The exact identity of these individuals remained a puzzle, despite the fact that they were doing so with sophisticated stone tools.
The initial analysis showed the bones were from a species known as Homo heidelbergensis, which was thought to have evolved in Africa before spreading into Europe. The inhabitants of Boxgrove may have been part of a group of early Neanderthals who established themselves in the area for 400,000 years.
An ambitious British and Spanish project is trying to find out the identities of the people who lived at the Pit of Bones in northern Spain.
The search for the identity of the early Britons is what this is all about. The fossils at La Sima were dated at about 430,000 years old, which is not very different from the Boxgrove bones and teeth.
We wanted to find out if the people there were related to the Boxgrove people. A link would let us know the identity of the person.
La Sima is home to some of the richest human fossils in the world. The remains of around 30 people have been excavated from a vertiginous shaft that drops 50 feet from the deepest part of Atapuerca Cavern.
The pit was thought to have been used as a burial site when the bones of La Sima were found. There have been a lot of skull injuries recently. Some of the people who died were thrown into the pit.
The pit has no precedent and provides a crucial fossil record for the period. The remains have made it possible to identify the species that lived in the area. We can say from their bones and their genes that they were Neanderthals. We wanted to know if the people of Boxgrove were also early Neanderthals.
A group of British and Spanish scientists, including Juan Luis Arsuaga, who led the original excavation of La Sima, began a careful comparison of teeth and bones. We wanted to find out if the bones and teeth were the same species or if they were different.
Researchers were surprised that neither scenario fit the evidence. The people of Boxgrove and the people of La Sima were found to have the same teeth, raising hopes that a link could be established. When the legbone from Boxgrove was compared with the one from La Sima, they were not the same.
It was found that the teeth were almost 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- The tibia from Boxgrove was different from the one from La Sima. It's a different shape and it's more robust.
We ended up with a worst case scenario. The people of Boxgrove and the people of La Sima are not the same. The shin bone and teeth may not be representative of the people. They were found in different parts of the site. The teeth could have been from an early Neanderthal population, while the shin bone might have been from a different species. The mystery is still unresolved.
Pope said that there had been a lot of information about the people of Boxgrove. Stone tools are used to butcher animals. You can see how these people worked together from the way they were working. They were in charge of their raw material. We were told how they worked by Boxgrove. What it doesn't tell us is where they lived.
Despite being separated by 50,000 years and 1000 km, the people of La Sima and Boxgrove have the same teeth. Some of the Boxgrove people are closer to Neanderthal populations of La Sima than we had thought. The tibia needs to be understood why it looks different. Is there more than one population in the Boxgrove sequence? There are exciting discoveries to make.
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