A 300,000-year-old skull discovered in Petralona Cave, Greece.

Mysterious 300,000-year-old Greek cave skull was neither human nor Neanderthal. Researchers have dated the mysterious skull from Petralona Cave in Greece to 300,000 years ago and concluded that the fossil belonged to an ancient human group that lived alongside Neanderthals. | AI News Digest

Published: September 1, 2025, 8:06 a.m. Science Neutral

A 300,000-year-old skull found in Greece's Petralona Cave has been identified as belonging to an ancient human group distinct from both Neanderthals and modern humans. Researchers utilized advanced uranium-series dating techniques to determine the skull's age, providing new insights into human evolution. The findings suggest that this hominin coexisted with early Neanderthals during the Middle Pleistocene. Despite the skull's unique characteristics, scientists caution against assigning it to a specific ancestor group. This research marks a significant step in understanding the evolutionary history of humans in Europe.

Petralona Cavehuman evolutionNeanderthalsancient fossilsarchaeology