Horned Skull: The Secret Link in the Story of Human Evolution

(Dan Tri) - This skull is not just a fossil, but a proof that scientific truth is never fixed, but always evolves as new discoveries come to light.

Nearly 200 years after Charles Darwin published “On the Origin of Species,” his theory of evolution became the foundation of modern biology.

And today, we all know that modern humans, Homo sapiens, evolved from ancient primates and once coexisted on Earth with other human species such as Neanderthals.

But the nature of science is to always ask questions and seek new evidence to challenge existing knowledge. So a 20th-century discovery is changing the way we view our own evolutionary history after decades of mystery: the Petralona skull.

The Petralona skull has long puzzled scientists (Photo: Getty).

Mystery from Greek cave

In 1960, a nearly complete skull (missing only the jawbone) was discovered by chance in a cave near Thessaloniki, Greece.

The skull (dubbed the Petralona skull) was embedded in the cave wall and was remarkably preserved by calcite, which formed a horn-like stalagmite on top of its head. It has since become one of the most controversial fossils in paleoanthropology.

For 65 years, the Petralona skull has remained a major archaeological mystery because it does not belong to Homo sapiens or Neanderthals, the two most well-known prehistoric human species in Europe. This has raised questions about its true identity and what its presence means for human evolutionary history.

The age of this skull is also a subject of debate as some researchers believe it is only about 170,000 years old, while others believe it could be as old as 700,000 years, which is more than twice the age of Homo sapiens.

Early classification efforts

The first attempt to classify the Petralona skull came in 1964, when two German scientists were invited to analyze the remains. They concluded that the skull and accompanying animal remains were about 50,000 years old, and belonged to one of the first humans to leave Africa for Europe. However, this notion was quickly challenged.

Greek researcher Aris Poulianos has put forward a more daring hypothesis, suggesting that the skull belongs to a separate human species that evolved in southeastern Europe. He initially estimated its age at 500,000 years, then raised it to 700,000 years, much older than the original estimate.

Meanwhile, other researchers believe it is a direct ancestor of Homo sapiens, dating back around 300,000 years. The debate over the skull's age and identity has dragged on for decades without resolution.

Doubts about the Petralona skull being distinct from Homo sapiens have persisted for decades (Photo: Getty).

New evidence sheds light on the mystery

It wasn't until this past August that the scientific community got a major breakthrough. A study led by Christophe Falguères, published in the Journal of Human Evolution (JHE) , used uranium series dating on calcite deposits on the skull.

The results showed that this calcite was at least 277,000 years old, providing a firm figure for the fossil's minimum age.

“The new dating estimates support the existence and coexistence of this population alongside the evolving Neanderthal lineage during the late Middle Pleistocene in Europe,” said Chris Stringer, one of the study’s co-authors and a paleoanthropologist at the Natural History Museum in London.

Researchers have officially classified the skull as Homo heidelbergensis, an extinct human species that the Smithsonian Institution has long cataloged.

The discovery not only provides an answer to a decades-long mystery, but also reinforces the idea that multiple human species coexisted and interacted in the past. It opens a new chapter in the study of human evolution, suggesting that our history is more complex and diverse than previously thought.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/khoa-hoc/hop-so-co-sung-mat-xich-bi-mat-trong-cau-chuyen-tien-hoa-cua-loai-nguoi-20250907235531679.htm