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Mysterious Skull Fused to Cave Wall Could Belong to a Rare Human Species
Advanced uranium-series dating confirms the Petralona skull is at least 277,000 years old, indicating a primitive hominin lineage coexisted with Neanderthals in Europe.
- On Aug. 14, researchers dated calcite on the Petralona skull to at least 277,000 years old in a study published in the Journal of Human Evolution, led by the Institut de Paléontologie Humaine .
- More than 60 years ago, local villager Christos Sariannidis uncovered the nearly complete cranium in Petralona Cave, Chalkidiki, but previous dating attempts ranged from 170,000 to 700,000 years.
- Using U‑series dating, the team found the calcite coating on the cranium began forming at least 286,000 years ago, with a margin of error of about 9,000 years, while cave wall samples include an older deposit dated to 539,000 years.
- Professor Chris Stringer said `That fossil is closely comparable to the Petralona one, and I would classify them both as Homo heidelbergensis`, supporting its assignment to a primitive lineage.
- The dating positions the Petralona cranium as evidence that until about 300,000 years ago, Europe hosted at least two hominin lineages coexisting, interbreeding, or evolving in isolation.
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Total News Sources32
Leaning Left1Leaning Right8Center7Last UpdatedBias Distribution50% Right
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- 50% of the sources lean Right
50% Right
C 44%
R 50%
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