Discovered Cave Skull Appears to be of an Unknown Early Human Species

The Petralona skull, a mysterious ancient relic discovered in a cave in Greece in 1960, has been the subject of much debate and speculation. A recent study, published last month in the Journal of Human Evolution, sheds new light on the age and origins of this intriguing fossil.

The study, led by Chris Stringer, an anthropologist at University College London, employed U-series dating to determine the age of the calcite growth on the Petralona skull. This technique, used to date geological formations, revealed that the calcite—a common mineral that often forms into stalactites and stalagmites in caves—is at least 290,000 years old.

Stringer believes that the calcite on the Petralona skull likely started forming soon after it appeared in the cave, which could make the date obtained through U-series dating a good date for the fossil itself. This new minimum age estimate suggests that this mysterious ancient group was at least contemporaneous to Neanderthals during Europe's later Middle Pleistocene, around 430,000 to 385,000 years ago.

Stringer has named the Petralona cranium as Homo heidelbergensis, a species he believes coexisted with Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, and goes back more than a million years. This classification aligns with other research suggesting similarities between the Petralona skull and the Kabwe cranium from Zambia, which might also be the remains of an H. heidelbergensis fossil.

The age of the Petralona skull has been estimated to be between 170,000 and 700,000 years old. However, its ambiguous stratigraphic position has made it difficult to date accurately. For a more precise dating, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki would need to agree to date the Petralona skull directly, for example, via a tooth sample.

Stringer has been interested in the Petralona skull since first seeing it in 1971. His current view is that heidelbergensis is a separate branch that coexisted with sapiens and Neanderthals, rather than a common ancestor. This hypothesis aligns with his belief that the Petralona skull represents a different kind of human species than previously thought.

The Petralona cave in Greece contained a humanoid cranium with a protrusion on its forehead, fused to the cave wall in 1960. Since then, the Petralona skull has been a source of fascination and debate, and this latest study adds a significant piece to the puzzle of our ancient ancestors.