Early Humans in Southeast Europe Were of a Different Sort, Say Researchers

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Early Humans in Southeast Europe Were of a Different Sort, Say Researchers

Wed, Feb 06, 2013

Less geographic isolation in the southern climes outside of the Ice Age glaciation in Europe the likely explanation.
Early Humans in Southeast Europe Were of a Different Sort, Say Researchers

Newly conducted dating of a human mandible fossil discovered in 2008 in the Mala Balanica cave in southern Serbia has revealed that the human species to which it belonged featured a morphology (form and structure) that significantly departed from the pattern of features of early humans who inhabited what is today Western Europe during the same time period.

Considered a remain from what is now suggested to be the oldest hominin (human-related) species found in the Balkans of Eastern Europe, its age is now placed between 397,000 and 525,000 years old based on the application of electron spin resonance (ESR), uranium series isotoptic analysis and infrared/post infrared luminescence dating. These cutting-edge dating techniques are thought, used in combination in this instance, to provide a highly reliable date range for the fossil found. The new testing and study* was conducted by an international team of researchers that included William Jack Rink of McMaster University, Canada, Dušan Mihailović, University of Belgrade, Serbia, and Mirjana Roksandic, University of Winnipeg, Canada. Mihailović and Roksandic were both involved in the initial discovery of the ancient mandible (scientifically labeled "BH-1") in 2008. The new date range corresponds to a time when a human species called Homo heidelbergensis was present in Western Europe and an early stage in Neanderthal evolution. Homo heidelbergensis is suggested by many scientists to be a possible progenitor to Neanderthals or humans, or possibly a common ancestor.

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Partiable mandible BH-1, discovered in the Mala Balanica Cave in 2008.  Rink WJ, Mercier N, Mihailovic´ D, Morley MW, Thompson JW, et al. (2013) New Radiometric Ages for the BH-1 Hominin from Balanica (Serbia): Implications for Understanding the Role of the Balkans in Middle Pleistocene Human Evolution. PLoS ONE 8(2): e54608. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054608  Credit: Mirjana Roksandic

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But BH-1 had no Neanderthal-derived characteristics. This human was distinctly different.

"The find is raising important questions about the spread of Neandertals and earlier hominins in the Central Balkans, as the mandible does not exhibit any of the traits characteristic of Neandertals, which are commonly considered to have been the only hominin group inhabiting Europe in the Middle and early Late Pleistocene", says Roksandic. [1] Referring to the Balkans, as opposed to Western Europe, she emphasizes the critical importance of the find as "we have very few fossils of hominins in general from this time, a period that was critical for shaping the appearance and evolution of uniquely human morphology and behaviors." [2] 

It is widely beleived that, at least in Western Europe, the evolution of traits was strongly influenced by periodic isolation of groups of individuals, caused by episodic formation of glaciers. These traits manifested themselves in the morphology of Neanderthal groups who inhabited the glaciated areas of the European subcointinent. However, humans in southeastern Europe were never geographically isolated from Asia and Africa by glaciers, and according to these researchers, this resulted in different evolutionary forces acting on early human populations in this region. The BH-1 hominin was an example of one of these populations. 

Roksandic further explains that their study confirms the importance of southeast Europe as a 'gate to the continent' and one of the three main areas where humans, plants and animals sought refuge during glaciations in prehistoric times.

The research is published in the February 6 issue of the open access journal PLOS ONE  as New Radiometric Ages for the BH-1 Hominin from Balanica (Serbia): Implications for Understanding the Role of the Balkans in Middle Pleistocene Human Evolution.

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* [1] Rink WJ, Mercier N, Mihailovic D, Morley MW, Thompson JW, et al. (2013) New Radiometric Ages for the BH-1 Hominin from Balanica (Serbia): Implications for Understanding the Role of the Balkans in Middle Pleistocene Human Evolution. PLoS ONE 8(2): e54608. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054608

[2] From The Road Through Sicevo, Popular Archaeology Discovery Edition, April 16, 2012.

Cover Photo, Top Left: Excavations in the Balanica Cave.  Courtesy Mirjana Roksandic, from The Road Through Sicevo, Popular Archaeology Discovery Edition, April 16, 2012.

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