Diverging Views of the First European Settlers

Paper Summary:

This well-researched and in-depth paper analyzes the available evidence and research regarding the earliest expansion of humans into Europe which is continually being revised and debated. This paper details the two distinct and widely differing viewpoints relating to the first permanent Europeans. Supporters of a short chronology believe that the first residents of Europe migrated into the area from the near east approximately 500-thousand years ago. Whereas other fossil-rich sites in Europe continue to reveal thousands of other large mammal remains dated to the lower and middle Pleistocene epochs, dating to before 500-thousand years ago. The best evidence supporting a belief in the short chronology comes from a mandible found in Germany in 1907 at Mauer dated to around 500-thousand years ago. This paper delves into the long-running discussions of when Europe was first colonized, which has recently been fueled by new discoveries from the Iberian peninsula, which reports hominid occupation 800-thousand years ago or perhaps even 1.8-million years ago. The writer also discusses the detailed excavation of the Atapuerca sites in Spain which reveals evidence of earlier human expansion into Europe than was previously believed.

From the Paper:

"Looking at Middle Pleistocene fossils from Europe, we have a number of human remains, some more reliable than others. For a considerable time, a supposed human molar found at the Czechoslovakia site of Prezletice in the company of what were believed to be human-made stone tools was believed to be one of the oldest human fossils from the Middle Pleistocene, with paleomagnetic studies dating it to about 780-thousand years ago. However, more recent studies have reclassified the tooth as belonging to a member of Ursus. Other contestable evidence from central Europe has been unearthed near Sedlesovice, where what appears to be a quartz artifact was discovered, and from Trzebnica in Poland, where similar artifacts have been unearthed."

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