The oldest tooth of Homo Sapiens, dating back 45,000 years ago, has been found in a cave in Bulgaria, with archaeologists claiming it is a proof that Sapiens had reached Europe several thousands years earlier than initially thought.
“We report the discovery and direct dating of human remains found in association with Initial Upper Palaeolithic artefacts, from excavations at Bacho Kiro Cave (Bulgaria). Morphological analysis of a tooth and mitochondrial DNA from several hominin bone fragments, identified through proteomic screening, assign these finds to H. sapiens and link the expansion of Initial Upper Palaeolithic technologies with the spread of H. sapiens into the mid-latitudes of Eurasia before 45 thousand years ago,” archaeologists reported for Nature magazine.
The Bacho Kiro Cave in Bulgaria has been excavated since 1930, while findings analysed now date back to 2015.
The excavations yielded a wealth of bone artefacts, including pendants manufactured from cave bear teeth that are reminiscent of those later produced by the last Neanderthals of western Europe.
Until now, the oldest finds of Homo Sapiens bones had been unearthed in Pestera cu Oase /Cave with Bones in Romania.