This is the face of the earliest known modern European -- a man or woman, with startling African-like features. This sculpture was created by Richard Neave, one of Britain's leading forensic scientists, using fossilized fragments of skull and jawbone found in a cave several years ago. These fragments date back to more than 35,000 years ago. The face shows the close links between the first European settlers and their immediate African ancestors. Yes, I said it, African ancestors, which many would like to disown and forget.
The head is based on remains of one of the earliest known anatomically modern Europeans. The lower jawbone was discovered by potholers in the Carpathian mountains in Romania in 2002. The rest of the fragments were found the following year. The bones were carbon-dated to between 34,000 and 36,000 years ago when Europe was occupied by two species of human.
They were the Neanderthals, who had arrived from Africa tens of thousands of years earlier, and the more recent modern humans, also known as Cro-Magnons. Although the skull is similar to a modern human head, it has a larger cranium, is more robust and has larger molars. Although it is impossible to work out the skin color of the prehistoric hunter, it is likely to have been darker than modern white Europeans. Fossil experts are also unsure if the skull was male or female.
Many scientists believe that modern humans evolved in Africa 200,000 to 100,000 years ago. Our ancestors left Africa around 60,000 years ago and migrated around the world, replacing other branches of the family tree which had left the continent earlier. The earliest modern Europeans were far from primitive. Living in huts and caves, they used stone tools and spears made from antlers, painted on the walls of their caves and made jewelery from shells. Source: U.K. Mail Online
While some may have reservations, nonetheless, this is a fascinating sculpture and shows us that, when it comes down to the real essence of our being, we are not really not that different at all.
This is the face of the earliest known modern European -- a man or woman, with startling African-like features. This sculpture was created by Richard Neave, one of Britain's leading forensic scientists, using fossilized fragments of skull and jawbone found in a cave several years ago. These fragments date back to more than 35,000 years ago. The face shows the close links between the first European settlers and their immediate African ancestors. Yes, I said it, African ancestors, which many would like to disown and forget. 
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