Homo antecessor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Homo antecessor Temporal range: Early Pleistocene |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Superfamily: | Hominoidea |
| Family: | Hominidae |
| Genus: | Homo |
| Species: | H. antecessor |
| Binomial name | |
| †Homo antecessor Bermudez de Castro et al., 1997 |
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Homo antecessor is an extinct human species dating from 1.2 million to 800,000 years ago, that was discovered by Eudald Carbonell, Juan Luis Arsuaga and J. M. Bermúdez de Castro. H. antecessor is one of the earliest known human varieties in Europe.
The best-preserved fossil is a maxilla that belonged to a 10-year-old individual found in Atapuerca, Spain. At the site were numerous examples of cuts where the flesh had been flensed from the bones, which indicates that H. antecessor could have practised cannibalism.
