After a century of research, the chronology of the first arrival of hominins in Europe remains controversial. Four Spanish localities potentially record evidence of the oldest Europeans, yet arrival ages remain loosely constrained between 1.6 and 0.9 Ma. Here we provide a new Early Pleistocene magnetostratigraphy, recording four paleomagnetic boundaries within 80 m of a fluvio-lacustrine sedimentary succession in Orce, southeastern Spain. This Pleistocene succession incorporates for the first time in Europe five superposed paleontological localities between the Olduvai and Jaramillo magnetozones, including three hominin sites providing evidence of the presence of hominins older than 1.07 Ma in Europe. The specific age for each fossil quarry is estimated using a Bayesian age-stratigraphic model with 95% confidence intervals. The oldest sites, which lack evidence of hominin activity, are 1.60 ± 0.05 Ma and 1.35 ± 0.07 Ma, respectively. Three sites higher in the stratigraphy, which contain evidence of hominids, occur at 1.32 ± 0.07 Ma (Venta Micena), 1.28 ± 0.07 Ma (Barranco León-5), and 1.23 ± 0.06 Ma (Fuente Nueva-3). The magnetostratigraphy and paleontological content of the Orce hominin sites are compared with other European localities concluding that the new chronology for Orce represents Europe's oldest and most accurately dated early Pleistocene hominin records. These results indicate that African hominins with Oldowan technology reached Southwestern Europe >0.5 Ma after first leaving Africa. This diachronism is explained because Europe was limited by biogeographical barriers that hominins were able to surpass only in a later evolutionary/cultural stage. We propose that ∼1,3 Ma hominins first arrived in southern Europe by traversing the Strait of Gibraltar when in a similar time frame, crossed the Wallace Line and reached the island of Flores (Java) by navigating the wider Lombok Strait. Archaeological data shows that a second wave of hominins with Acheulian technology entered South Europe again via the Iberian Peninsula after the Jaramillo subchron (1.071–0.991 Ma) and before the Brunhes chron (0.77 Ma).

中文翻译：

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欧洲最早的人类遗址的磁性地层测年


经过一个世纪的研究，古人类首次抵达欧洲的时间顺序仍然存在争议。西班牙的四个地方可能记录了最古老欧洲人的证据，但到达年龄仍然宽松地限制在 1.6 到 0.9 Ma 之间。在这里，我们提供了一种新的早更新世磁性地层学，记录了西班牙东南部奥尔塞河流-湖泊沉积序列 80 m 范围内的四个古地磁边界。这一更新世序列首次在欧洲纳入了奥杜瓦伊磁带和哈拉米洛磁带之间的五个重叠的古生物地点，其中包括三个古人类遗址，提供了欧洲存在年龄超过 1.07 Ma 的古人类的证据。每个化石采石场的具体年龄是使用具有 95% 置信区间的贝叶斯年龄地层模型估算的。最古老的地点，缺乏古人类活动的证据，分别为 1.60 ± 0.05 Ma 和 1.35 ± 0.07 Ma。地层中较高的三个地点包含原始人类的证据，分别位于 1.32 ± 0.07 Ma (Venta Micena)、1.28 ± 0.07 Ma (Barranco León-5) 和 1.23 ± 0.06 Ma (Fuente Nueva-3)。将奥尔斯古人类遗址的磁地层学和古生物学内容与欧洲其他地区进行比较，得出结论：奥尔斯的新年表代表了欧洲最古老、年代最准确的早期更新世古人类记录。这些结果表明，具有奥尔杜旺技术的非洲古人类在首次离开非洲后到达西南部>0.5 Ma。这种历时性的解释是因为欧洲受到生物地理障碍的限制，人类只有在后来的进化/文化阶段才能超越这些障碍。 我们推测，~1,3 Ma 古人类首先穿越直布罗陀海峡到达南欧，并在相似的时间范围内穿越更宽的龙目海峡，越过华莱士线并到达弗洛勒斯岛（爪哇岛）。考古数据显示，在哈拉米略亚纪元（1.071-0.991 Ma）之后、布鲁尼纪元（0.77 Ma）之前，第二波采用阿舍利技术的古人类再次经伊比利亚半岛进入南欧。