关键词: 阿塔普尔卡;直立人;头面部;人类进化;更新世

Abstract: The establishment of the new species ‘Homo antecessor’ was mainly based on the remains of an immature individual ATD6-69, found at the TD6 litostratigraphic unit (LU) of the Gran Dolina site in the Sierra de Atapuerca—Burgos, northern Spain[1], along with cranial, mandibular and dental traits from other fossil hominid specimens recovered in the same level. TD6 LU was initially dated about 0.78 Ma[2] using ESR-U-series; but recent redatings, employing TL and IRSL methods, suggest that its age is between 0,9-0,95 Ma. It seems that there is general consensus that TD6 LU corresponds to Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 25. TD6-69 specimen, a partial face with R P3, M1, and germs of M2 and M3; and L I2-M1, was found in the so-called “Aurora stratum”, ~1.5 m below the Brunhes–Matuyama (B–M) geomagnetic boundary. This “stratum” was in fact, an excavation area of only 6 m2 for archaeological test pit purposes. There is no real basis, from an earnest stratigraphic point of view, to consider such sedimentary level as a new litostratigraphic unit and, therefore, “Aurora stratum” should be take into account as an informal archaeo-sedimentary small area whose name was established to gain public attention from the media.

Key words: Atapuerca; Homo erectus; midfacial morphology; human evolution; Middle Pleistocene