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Which ancestors are associated with the Sima de los Huesos site in Spain?
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Neanderthal
Artist's rendering of Homo neanderthalensis, who ranged from western Europe to Central Asia for some 100,000 years before dying out approximately 30,000 years ago.
The human remains discovered at the Sima de los Huesos site in Spain are widely considered to be the ancestors of Neanderthals.1
These fossils, which date to approximately 430,000 years ago, exhibit several physical traits unique to Neanderthals, such as a projecting midface, long and narrow pubic bones, and thick finger bones, though they do not fully express the characteristic Neanderthal form seen in later populations.2
Depending on the classification system used, these remains are often attributed to Homo heidelbergensis or, by those who view Neanderthals as a subspecies of modern humans, to archaic Homo sapiens.21