A groundbreaking study led by Dr. Sabrina Curran, Associate Professor of Anthropology at Ohio University, has unveiled new evidence that suggests early hominins arrived in Europe much earlier than previously believed. The research team, including co-principal investigators Dr. Alexandru Petculescu of the “Emil Racoviţă” Institute of Speleology in Romania and Dr. Claire E. Terhune, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Arkansas, discovered multiple bones with cut marks made by early hominins using stone tools at the Grăunceanu site in Romania. These marks, dating back to around 1.95 million years ago, represent some of the earliest known evidence of tool usage and meat processing in Eurasia.
Published in Nature Communications, the study challenges the current timeline of hominin dispersal across Eurasia. Prior to this discovery, evidence of hominin activity in Dmanisi, Georgia, around 1.8 million years ago was the earliest known, but the Grăunceanu site suggests hominins may have reached Eurasia as early as 2 million years ago.
“This discovery is crucial because it pushes back the timeline for hominin presence in Eurasia,” said Dr. Curran. “While stone tools have been found in other regions, these marks on bones offer an invaluable look into the behavior of our early ancestors.”
The team’s research builds on decades of excavations in Romania, which yielded significant fossil discoveries in the 1960s and 1980s. The bones, previously stored at the “Emil Racoviţă” Institute of Speleology and the Museum of Oltenia, had not been fully examined until Curran and her team revisited them.
“We didn’t expect to find much,” Curran admitted. “But when we checked the collections, we found several bones with distinct cut marks, leading to further investigation. With collaboration from Dr. Briana Pobiner from the Smithsonian Institution and Dr. Michael Pante of Colorado State University, we uncovered more evidence of deliberate butchering.”
The find is particularly significant as it predates the Dmanisi site by approximately 200,000 years, making Romania a key location for understanding the spread and behaviors of early human ancestors.
The research team employed biostratigraphic data and high-resolution U-Pb dating methods, ensuring the site’s age was precisely established. Additionally, isotope analysis conducted by Dr. Virgil Drăguşin and his team helped reconstruct the environmental conditions that these early hominins would have experienced. The findings suggest that the region likely experienced seasonal temperature fluctuations, with higher rainfall levels than today.
“This discovery reshapes our understanding of human evolution,” Dr. Curran said. “It shows that early hominins were already exploring and adapting to diverse environments across Eurasia, which was crucial for their survival and spread.”
Alongside the cut-marked bones, the team uncovered fossils of various species that lived in Romania during this period, offering a glimpse into the environment these early humans inhabited. The site revealed fossils of saber-toothed cats, giraffes, and even an extinct pangolin species, emphasizing the biodiversity of the region during the early Pleistocene.
“The evidence emerging from Romania indicates that early hominins were far more adaptable than we thought,” Dr. Curran concluded. “They were capable of surviving and thriving in a wide variety of environments.”
The findings were published in Nature Communications, and Curran’s team will present their work at the American Association of Biological Anthropologists (AABA) conference in March 2025.
“This research highlights the complexity of human evolution, and we are just beginning to uncover the many chapters of this fascinating story,” Dr. Curran added.
