A set of Paleolithic artifacts discovered in the 70s of the last century in the west of Ukraine in Korolevo, near the border with Romania, has finally been dated, reports the journal Nature, in a study signed by an international group of specialists from the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Germany, South Africa and Denmark Age of items? About 1.42 +/- 0.10 million years.

Undoubtedly, the discovery itself is exceptional. But the problem arises when it comes to interpreting the data and explanations provided by both the authors of the study and a commentary by Swiss science journalist Giorgia Guglielmi in the same Nature journal.

And, they say, we have evidence of the earliest human settlement in Europe through the earliest traces of their species, as well as the earliest evidence of Homo erectus/Home ergaster migration into Europe from the east, particularly via the route north of the Black Sea. To reinforce the words, the Swiss journalist states that in Europe, the oldest evidence of human presence comes from Spain and France, respectively, 1.1-1.2 million years ago.

With all due respect to Nature and those involved in the research, especially Georgia Guglielmi, the information is far from the truth. In fact, the evidence for the presence of archaic hominids in Europe far predates the data provided by them.

For example, discoveries of this kind have been made in Europe for many years. Some of them in the Iberian Peninsula (Barranco Leon and Fuente Nueva 3 sites) were dated to about 1.3 million years, in the Italian Peninsula (Pirro Nord site) – approx. 1.5 million years, and in the south of France (site Chilhac 3) in 1.9 million years. What is certain is that there is well-documented evidence of human communities in Europe predating the 1.55 million year interval.

If we look closer, and also at the border with Romania, more precisely at the discoveries made in the Kozarnitsa Cave, in the north-west of Bulgaria, the excavations carried out there during the 80-90 years under the direction of Professor Mykola Sirakov, provided not only evidence of stone nature, but even a human molar, all dated to approximately 1.4-1.6 million years.

As for the eastern Black Sea region, it abounds with discoveries that testify to the presence of archaic hominids (see the case of the famous skulls from Dmanisi, Georgia), as well as traces of repeated habitation in the interval of 1.85-1.78 million years. Combined with discoveries in Western Europe, such traces clearly indicate attempts at European colonization that clearly predate the data provided by the study authors and Giorgia Guglielmi.

In this context, and going back to the research in Nature, the discovery in Korolevo is extremely important. Especially since this, as the authors of the study also note, fills a gap in a huge puzzle. One is very little known, given the rarity of its discoveries in Europe.

If we are talking about the earliest traces of human habitation in Europe or about the first migration of archaic hominids from east to west, then it is a completely different story.

Bibliography:

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• Moyano IT, Barsky D., Cauche D., Celiberti V., Gregoire S., Lebegue F., Moncele MH, De Lumley H., 2011, Archaic stone tool industry from Barranco León and Fuente Nueva 3, (Orsay, Spain) ): Evidence for the earliest hominin presence in southern Europe, Quaternary International, no. 243, p. 80-91

• Ferring, D., Ohms, O., Agusti, J., Lordkipanidza, D., 2011, Earliest human occupation at Dmanisa (Georgian Caucasus) dated to 1.85–1.78 Ma, PNAS, v. 108 (26), p. 10.432 – 10.436

• Sirakov, N. et al., 2013, Ancient continuous human presence in the Balkans and the beginning of human settlement in western Eurasia: the Lower Pleistocene-Lower Palaeolithic case of Kozarnika Cave (NW Bulgaria), Quaternary International, DOI :10.1016/j.quaint.2010.02 .023

• Boivin P. et al., 2010, Geological setting of the Lower Pleistocene fossiliferous deposits of Chilhac (Haute-Loire, France), Quaternary International, vol. 223–224, p. 107-115