Hominin fossil material from the Middle Pleistocene of Velika Balanica Cave (Serbia) and its implications for human evolution in Europe

Abstract

Recent discoveries in the Balkans have emphasized the importance of this region of Europe for our understanding of Pleistocene human migrations and interactions. With its plesiomorphic morphology, the early Middle Pleistocene hemi-mandible BH-1 from Mala Balanica suggested the possibility of a non-Neanderthal pre-modern lineage in the area. The members of the Nean- derthal lineage were certainly present in the territory by 130 ka, but an even earlier presence can also be expected, considering that Neanderthals reached Anatolia by 250–200 kBP. In the 2017 field season, the geological Layer 3 of Velika Balanica (located next to Mala Balanica) yielded four hominin fossils, belonging to at least two individuals: a permanent upper third molar (BH-2), a deciduous upper fourth premolar (BH-3), a maxillary fragment with a permanent first molar (BH-4), and a permanent upper central incisor (BH-5). A fragmented upper molar of another individual (BH-6), was recovered from the same stratigraphic layer in 2020. The results of our preliminary analysis suggest a morphological affinity with the members of the Neanderthal lineage. Since Layer 3 has been recently dated to between 369 and 221 kBP, the Velika Balanica hominins could thus represent the earliest Neanderthals in the Balkans, but also in the wider Eastern Mediterranean Area. Furthermore, the lithic assemblages recovered from Layer 3 in Velika and Layer 2 in Mala Balanica show marked similarities with the contemporaneous Yabrudian assemblages, indicating cultural connections between the Balkans and Levant in the latter part of the Middle Pleistocene. With the possibility of an early modern Homo sapiens presence in the Balkans older than ~210 ka at Apidima (Greece), and with the admixture between modern humans and Neanderthals pushed back to more than ∼270 ka, Velika Balanica could also prove to be crucial for our understanding of the complex later Middle Pleistocene hominin interactions.