スペインで発掘の顎骨片、欧州最古のヒト属化石か

【マドリードＡＦＰ＝時事】スペイン北部で先月３０日に発掘された顎骨（がっこつ）の断片は、これまでに欧州で発掘されたヒト属の化石としては最古となる可能性がある。同国の古生物学者が８日、明らかにした。（写真はスペイン・ブルゴスで、ヒト属の顔の骨片を復元する研究者。アタプエルカ研究チーム提供）
　研究チームによれば、スペイン北部のアタプエルカ山脈の遺跡で発掘された化石は、およそ１４０万年前のもの。
　これまでに欧州で発掘された最古のヒト属の化石は、２００７年に同じ遺跡で見つかった顎骨で、１２０万年前のものと断定されている。
　プロジェクトの責任者の一人で、古人類学者のホセ・マリア・ベルムデス・デ・カストロ氏は会見で、まずは科学的な年代測定技術で顎骨片の年代を推計する必要があるとしながら、発掘場所は２００７年に顎骨が見つかった地層より２メートルほど下だったため、「さらに古いものと考えるのが論理的だ」と述べた。
　同氏によれば、年代測定には６～８か月を要する。その分析によって、顎骨がどのヒト属のものかを特定する手掛かりが得られるという。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/07/11-14:07）

A jawbone fragment discovered in northern Spain last month could be the oldest known fossil of a human ancestor found to date in Europe, Spanish paleontologists said Friday.
The researchers said the fossil found at an archaeological site on June 30 in northern Spain's Atapuerca mountain range is around 1.4 million years old.
Until now, the oldest hominid fossil found in Europe was a jawbone found at the same site in 2007 which was determined to be 1.2 million years old.
Atapuerca contains one of the richest records of prehistoric human occupation in Europe.
Researchers will now have to complete their first estimate for the age of the jawbone fragment using scientific dating techniques, palaeoanthropologist Jose-Maria Bermudez de Castro, the co-director of the Atapuerca research project, said during a news conference.
But since the jawbone fragment was found some two metres below the layer of earth where the jawbone in 2007 was found, it is logical and reasonable to think it is older, he added.
The scientific dating of the jawbone fragment will be carried out at the National Centre for Research on Human Evolution in Burgos, a city located about 10 kilometres (six miles) from Atapuerca.
The process should take between six to eight months to complete, Bermudez de Castro said.
The analysis could help identify which hominid species the jawbone fragment belongs to and better understand the human beings evolved on the European continent.
Scientists have so far been unable to determine with certainty which species the jawbone discovered in 2007 belonged to.
The fossil could correspond to the species called Homo antecessor, discovered in the 1990s.
The Atapuerca Foundation which runs the archaeological site said in a statement that is very likely that the jawbone fragment belongs to one of the first populations that colonised Europe.
The archaeological site of Atapuerca was in 2000 included on UNESCO's list of world heritage sites, giving it access to United Nations conservation funding.
It contains thousands of hominid fossils and tools including a flint discovered in 2013 that is 1.4 million years old.