Long ago, way before your grandparents, their grandparents, and even their grandparents’ grandparents were born, humans were on the move.
They left Africa and began exploring different parts of the world.
But, guess what?
Europe wasn’t their first-choice vacation spot! About 60,000 years ago, some brave adventurers did visit Europe, but they didn’t stick around for long.
Why? Well, Mother Nature had her mood swings!
Imagine this: 40,000 years ago, Europe was going through a cold snap. It was like the worst winter you can think of, but it lasted a very long time.
On top of that, a giant volcano near today’s Naples in Italy decided to erupt in a massive explosion.
This made living conditions in Europe even tougher. So, the ancient people who were there packed their bags and left.
Now, here’s where the detective work begins. Scientists from CNRS, a big research group, wanted to know more about the first humans who decided to call Europe their permanent home.
To solve this mystery, they looked at two really old pieces of skull found in a place called Buran Kaya III in Crimea. How old? One was 36,000 years old and the other 37,000 years old! These skulls were like a window into the past.
By using some cool science magic (okay, it’s called DNA sequencing), they compared the skulls’ DNA to the DNA of people living now and to ancient Europeans.
What they found was super interesting: the people these skulls belonged to were closely related to ancient Europeans, especially those from a group called the Gravettian culture.
The Gravettian people are famous for their art skills. They made beautiful statues of women, which are often called “Venuses.” These statues are really old, made between 31,000 and 23,000 years ago. So, they’re kind of like the ancient version of famous artwork!
But that’s not all. The scientists also found stone tools at Buran Kaya III, and guess what? They looked a lot like the tools the Gravettian people used. This means the people who once lived in Buran Kaya III were sort of like the great-great-grandparents of the Gravettian folks!
So, in short, these skull-owners were some of the first humans to make Europe their home and were ancestors to a culture that made fabulous art thousands of years later.
Thanks to this research, which was shared with the world in a magazine called Nature Ecology & Evolution, we now know a bit more about Europe’s first residents.
In conclusion, the next time you think of Europe, don’t just picture the Eiffel Tower or pizza. Think of the brave souls who settled there tens of thousands of years ago, making it possible for so many cultures, histories, and stories to flourish!
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