A groundbreaking discovery in the Sima del Elefante cave, located in the Atapuerca mountains of Spain, is changing what we know about the first humans in Western Europe. Researchers have identified a 1.

The prehistoric facial bones were found buried in 50 feet of mud and silt, and are believed to be 1.1 to 1.4 million years old, researchers said.

Researchers in Spain have discovered mysterious fossilized facial fragments that belonged to an unknown early human species. The bones are the oldest human fossils discovered in Western Europe, according to a study published this week in the journal Nature.