The Banyoles mandible is from the first Homo Sapiens in Europe

08/12/2022

The Banyoles mandible is one of the most important human fossils of the Iberian Peninsula and possibly also one of the best studied. Since its discovery by Llorenç Roura during the month of April 1887 in a quarry in the Pla de la Formiga de Banyoles, it has not stopped attracting all kinds of researchers in Banyoles. Nowadays, it's exhibited at the Regional Archaeological Museum of Banyoles.

Now, a new study rules out that the Banyoles mandible corresponds to a Neanderthal but to a "Homo Sapiens" who lived in this area between 45,000 and 65,000 years ago, making it the oldest bone remains of modern man in Europe.