Rosa Huguet and Xosé Pedro Rodríguez Named Finalists for the Vanguardia Science Awards for the Discovery of “Pink”, the Oldest Human Face in Western Europe
IPHES-CERCA researcher Rosa Huguet and researcher Xosé Pedro Rodríguez are part of the scientific team shortlisted for the 2026 Vanguardia Science Awards thanks to the research that unveiled “Pink”, the oldest human facial fragment ever documented in Western Europe.
The study, published in the journal Nature, reports the discovery of a human face dated to between 1.2 and 1.4 million years ago from the Sima del Elefante site in the Atapuerca Mountains (Spain). The finding represents a milestone in the study of Europe’s earliest inhabitants and has attracted considerable international scientific and media attention.
The fossil, popularly nicknamed “Pink”, was unearthed during the 2022 excavation season by the Atapuerca research team. Its analysis has revealed a human population distinct from Homo antecessor, a species documented in more recent levels of the same archaeological complex. According to the researchers, the anatomical features of the facial fragment point to an older human form, provisionally assigned to Homo affinis erectus.
The research combines paleoanthropological, archaeological, technological and paleoenvironmental evidence to reconstruct the context in which these early Europeans lived. The results describe a resource-rich environment, featuring woodlands, open landscapes and water bodies, inhabited by human groups that used simple stone tools to exploit animal resources.
The authors also highlight the exceptional nature of Sima del Elefante, as it is the only known site in Western Europe to have yielded human remains older than 1.2 million years from two different stratigraphic levels.
The Vanguardia Science Awards, promoted by La Vanguardia newspaper and the Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation, annually recognize the most outstanding scientific research carried out in Spain. The eight finalist studies were selected by an expert committee and have now entered the public voting phase. Readers can vote for the winning research project until 28 June through La Vanguardia’s website. The final result will combine the public vote with the assessment of the scientific jury.
At IPHES-CERCA, we would like to congratulate Rosa Huguet and Xosé Pedro Rodríguez on this new recognition, which highlights not only the scientific significance of the discovery of “Pink”, but also the collective efforts of the research teams that have been working at Atapuerca for decades to deepen our understanding of human origins and evolution.
For this reason, we encourage the scientific community, institutions and the general public to take part in the vote and support this nomination, which represents one of the most important paleoanthropological discoveries of recent years.