The Palarq Foundation includes the discovery of the oldest face in Western Europe among the major archaeological advances of 2025

The Palarq Foundation has selected the discovery of the oldest human face in Western Europe, known as Pink, at the Atapuerca site, as one of the most outstanding archaeological finds of 2025.

The fossil, discovered in 2022 at the Sima del Elefante site (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos) and recently published in the journal Nature, corresponds to a human facial fragment dated to between 1.1 and 1.4 million years ago. The specimen, catalogued as ATE7-1, has been attributed to Homo aff. erectus and represents key evidence for understanding the earliest human migrations and the evolution of hominins in Europe during the Early Pleistocene.

This find represents the oldest human face known so far in Western Europe and reinforces the role of the Atapuerca sites as an international reference in the study of the continent’s earliest human settlements.

The inclusion of Pink among the major archaeological discoveries of 2025 by the Palarq Foundation highlights the scientific and social impact of this research and the value of the sustained work carried out by the research team over decades.