Oldest hominin evidence in Europe found in Romania, dating back 1.95 million years

New research at Romania’s Grăunceanu site has uncovered evidence of hominin activity at least 1.95 million years ago, marking the oldest known hominin presence in Europe. Published in Nature Communications, this breakthrough study redefines early hominin migration.

Oldest hominin evidence in Europe found in Romania, dating back 1.95 million yearsThe oldest hominin evidence in Europe was found in Romania. Credit: DALL·E / Archaeology News Online Magazine

The Tetoiu Formation in the Olteț River Valley, where Grăunceanu sits, is an environment with a high level of preservation dating to the Early Pleistocene era, rich in information regarding hominin behavior. Ohio University and other insтιтution researchers examined 4,524 samples of bones removed from Grăunceanu and concluded that 20 show anthropogenic modifications. Definitive butchering-cut signatures characterized seven of them. Tibiae and mandibles with linear signatures were examined with high-tech 3D optical profilometry that confirmed lithic tools as the cause of the markings.

The researchers determined, with uranium-lead (U-Pb) dating, that the fossils averaged 1.95 million years in age. By combining dating with biostratigraphic analysis, Grăunceanu has been confirmed as the oldest hominin activity site in Europe.

“Our results, presented along with multiple other lines of evidence, point to a widespread, though perhaps intermittent, presence of hominins across Eurasia by at least 2.0 Ma,” said the researchers in the paper.

Oldest hominin evidence in Europe found in Romania, dating back 1.95 million yearsSelected images of high-confidence cut-marked specimens from the Olteţ River Valley ᴀssemblage. Credit: S.C. Curran et al., Nature Communications (2025), CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

The Grăunceanu breakthrough is several hundred thousand years earlier than the previous oldest evidence of hominins in Europe, which dates to around 1.4 million years ago. It also rivals findings from Dmanisi, Georgia, a 1.8-million-year-old site that was previously considered the earliest reliable evidence of hominins in regions outside Africa.

The presence of hominins in Romania indicates older and possibly more sophisticated routes of migration into Eurasia. This refutes the current theory that hominins spread primarily through the Near East and then moved to Georgia and Europe.

The ecosystem at Grăunceanu during the Late Villafranchian period (2.2–1.9 million years ago) was a temperate forest-steppe with seasonal rainfall. Isotopic analyses of oxygen and carbon from horse teeth found at the site indicate mild winters and wet summers, a period that could have facilitated hominin dispersals during interglacials.

The fauna at the site includes bones of a mammoth, a rhinoceros, and an extinct European monkey (Paradolichopithecus), signifying diversity during that period. The presence of warm-adapted species like ostriches and pangolins further supports the hypothesis of favorable climatic conditions during hominin occupation of the site.

While there are strong indications of hominin presence, no direct fossil record of the hominin(s) responsible has yet been uncovered by scientists. That lack of a skeletal record raises questions about the hominin species involved.

Some have questioned the lack of supporting evidence for a continuous presence in Europe between finds at Grăunceanu and other sites subsequently discovered in Spain and France, dating to about 1.4 million years ago. The scientists, however, emphasize the patchy nature of the fossil record and the need for further exploration in underrepresented regions, particularly in Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

More information: Curran, S.C., Drăgușin, V., Pobiner, B. et al. (2025). Hominin presence in Eurasia by at least 1.95 million years ago. Nat Commun 16, 836. doi:10.1038/s41467-025-56154-9

Related Posts

4th-century earthquake victims in Heraclea Sintica reveal care for disabled in Roman world

4th-century earthquake victims in Heraclea Sintica reveal care for disabled in Roman world

Archaeologists working at the site of Heraclea Sintica, a Roman city in what is now southwestern Bulgaria, have uncovered the remains of six men who perished in…

Ancient DNA reveals West African ancestry in 7th-century skeletons from England

Ancient DNA reveals West African ancestry in 7th-century skeletons from England

Archaeologists have unearthed surprising genetic evidence that two individuals buried at opposite ends of the south coast of England in the 7th century CE had recent West…

Ancient ‘rising sun’ coins reveal vast first-millennium trade networks across Southeast Asia

Ancient ‘rising sun’ coins reveal vast first-millennium trade networks across Southeast Asia

Archaeologists obtained new insights into early Southeast Asian trade and cultural connections through an extensive examination of silver coins dating to as early as the fourth century…

Bedale Viking silver hoard reveals 9th-century trade links from England to the Islamic world

Bedale Viking silver hoard reveals 9th-century trade links from England to the Islamic world

A groundbreaking study of the Bedale Hoard, a remarkable Viking Age silver hoard discovered in North Yorkshire in 2012, has yielded evidence of a far-reaching and complex…

Gothic gold necklace and Roman-era treasures unearthed in Poland’s Grodziec Forest

Gothic gold necklace and Roman-era treasures unearthed in Poland’s Grodziec Forest

Amateur archaeologists made a series of stunning discoveries this summer in the quiet Grodziec Forest District near Kalisz, Poland, uncovering treasures that reveal centuries of history in…

Europe’s largest hoard of Late Iron Age bipyramidal ingots found in Bosnia’s Sava River

Europe’s largest hoard of Late Iron Age bipyramidal ingots found in Bosnia’s Sava River

Archaeologists excavating along the Sava River in Tolisa, northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, have discovered what is potentially the largest collection of prehistoric bipyramidal iron ingots yet found…