It has been suggested that Europe was colonised successfully on a permanent basis at some point between 500,000 and 100,000 years ago. Though there is very little in the way of fossilised human remains there are several datable assemblages of stone artefacts, such as at Anagni in central Italy which can be dated to somewhere between 360,000 and 450,000 years old. This article will discuss the earliest possible sites of human arrival and occupation in Europe and consider the limitations which were placed upon occupation during the Palaeolithic era to investigate the validity of the above suggestion.
One of the earliest confirmed (and most convincing) sites for the presence of early man in Europe has been unearthed at La Pineta near Isernia in the Mouse mountains of central Italy. The site was found to contain a large amount of fossilised bones (Bison, Rhino, Bear, Hippopotamus, Straight Tusked Elephant etc.), many of which showed signs of butchery. Along with the fossilised bones there was also found a large assemblage (numbering in their thousands) of stone tools; large limestone choppers and small worked flint flakes. The diverse mammal fauna (represented by the fossilised bones), along with the stone tools, were found in "ancient marsh deposits that are stratified below a tufa that has been dated to 0.73 million years" (Champion et al 1984,28). Though not the earliest possible evidence of man's arrival in Europe, the site near Isernia does have "the advantage that its early age is confirmed by both palaeomagnetic and absolute dates" (Champion et al 1984, 28). The cave of Vallonet near Nice in southern France is perhaps a site of an even earlier occupation than that unearthed near Isernia. A few technologically simple stone artefacts were found deposited within the cave. These deposits were analysed for magnetic information and were found to be of normal polarity. This normal polarity indicates either "a date during the Brunhes epoch of normal polarity that began at 700,000 BP or one of the shorter normal polarity events that occurred during the Matuyama epoch of reversed polarity between 0.9 and 0.95 million years old" (Champion et al 1984, 27-28). Another site at Chillac, also in France, has unearthed stone tools which possibly being 1.6 million years old would make this site the earliest known for the presence of early man in Europe. Although all three above sites have not so far produced any fossilised human material, the stone assemblages along with fossilised animal bone; such as that at La Pineta near Isernia in central Italy; which have been found would seem to imply that certainly by 0.73 million years ago if not by 1.6 million years ago, early man was becoming aware of and beginning to exploit the opportunities to be found in Europe. Probably following animals which they had become dependant upon in Africa and latter on in the Middle East. A study of the fossilised bones along with pollen samples taken from the site at La Pineta, indicates that the area surrounding the site was at the time of early man's presence there, "an area of grassland savannah with sparse trees, having a dry climate and a short rainy season - very similar to East Africa" (Andrews 1991, 21).
The suggestion that by 500,000 years ago, and certainly by no latter than 100,000 years ago, early man was successfully colonising Europe on a permanent basis can be backed up by looking at evidence which indicates man's furthest extent of occupation in Europe. The remains of a skull found at Bilzingsleben on the river Wipper in Germany, can be viewed as evidence for this continued expansion of early man into the continent from a period (probably) beginning before 500,000 years ago (the site near Isernia in Italy for example). The skull fragment, possibly Homo Erectus or an early transitional form of Homo Sapien, has been dated to around 400,000 BP. Along with the skull fragment found, there were stone tools, wooden artefacts, the remains of bones of various animals (Beaver, Rhinoceros Straight Tusked Elephant etc.), as well as concentrations of stones and bones within roughly circular areas indicating the possible remains of shelter like structures. The site was situated by a lake and occupied an area in which several environments came together (scrubland, forest, marsh, river, pasture etc.), which along with the artefacts found on the site, imply that it was used as a base for hunting. It was an area where the food supply could be maximised and would have been an ideal site for a winter encampment. This site coupled with another at Boxgrove in West Sussex (human bone remains found of Homo Erectus, or possibly an early form of Homo Sapien), which has been dated to around 450,000 years ago, signifies that at the very least early man was a regular visitor to northern Europe by 400,000 years ago. Though the evidence such as was found at both of the sites would suggest that they could and did adjust to an occupation of most of the continent on a more or less permanent basis throughout the seasons. That is, until being forced to retire southwards from the onset of a period of glaciation as can be shown at the site at Boxgrove, "Shortly after it was abandoned, the scattered tools were covered by coarse, flinty gravels eroded from the cliff above. These flints were shattered by frost; tell-tale evidence of the onset of another ice age which drove the hunters away to the south." (Andrews 1991, 23). This could demonstrate the possibility that mankind was ever present in Europe after 500,000 years ago. Capable of existing on the very edges of the extreme environments brought about by periods of glaciation, and possibly retaining a foot hold of occupation on the continent in areas, "such as Spain and southern Italy, where the direct effects of glaciation in the north would have been modified by their geographical position." (Champion et al 1984, 23-24).
The diversity of location of early human sites throughout western and southern Europe is another point in favour of the suggestion that man had become a permanent inhabitant of the continent 'at some point between 500,000 and 100,000 years ago'. Sites such as those already mentioned at Bilzingsleben (Germany), Boxgrove (England), Isernia (Italy), and Chillac (France) along with other sites such as Petralona in Greece, and the sites of Torralba and Ambrona near Madrid in Spain, emphasise the diversity (and exploitation by) of early humans in Europe. The Lower Palaeolithic site of Vertesszollos in Hungary is another such site like those mentioned above. The site has so far uncovered part of a (possible) Homo Erectus skull as well as "a collection of 2800 artefacts of which 700 were tools and the rest stone flakes" (Champion et al 1984, 41). This site, dated to around 350,000 years BP, along with those sites found further north suggest that early humans in their diversity of location, were more than mere casual visitors but were instead becoming part of the environment in Europe adapting to changes in climate, sometimes being forced back as at Boxgrove in West Sussex, but always where possible returning, as at Pontnewyd in north Wales where "the molar of a young adult has been excavated Absolute dates point to an age of around 200,000 years for this specimen" (Champion et al 1984, 27).
Early man was probably enticed into Europe during a warm period or interglacial, following annals upon which they had originally become dependant on in Africa and the Middle East. They were taking advantage of the fact that "at the height of an interglacial, animals which one would today not expect to find outside the tropical and subtropical zones, could flourish even quite far north" (Roe 1970, 37), the remains of which occur throughout western and southern Europe in interglacial deposits. However during periods of glaciation the climate could and did change so dramatically that it drove both the original animals upon which early man relied and early man himself, further south to areas around the mediterranean (Spain, southern Italy etc.), which were less severely effected than elsewhere, "At such times Europe presented a bleak picture. Southern Britain and also uplands like the Massif Central were treeless tundra. In the Netherlands there was a polar desert, and ice caps covered all the mountain ranges as far south as Crete" (Andrews 1991, 23). Although early humans were apparently forced back during glacial periods it does not automatically follow that they were pushed entirely out of Europe during such times. There were areas where they could have carried on without too much difficulty and indeed the evolutionary early humans into an early form of Homo Sapiens and then onto the evidently more cold resistant Neanderthal, would seem to indicate some form of prolonged exposure, on a permanent basis, of varying and extreme climates in order for early humans to evolve in such a way.
In conclusion then, the age of the earliest sites in Europe of early man, the evidence for the most
northerly extent of occupation, and the great diversity of location of these sites on the continent, would all
seem to indicate that despite the limitations imposed upon them during times of glaciation, early humans
held on in Europe and even developed (i.e. Homo Sapien Neanderthalensis). It is therefore, fair to agree
with the suggestion, 'that at some point between 500,000 and 100,000 years ago Europe was
successfully colonised on a permanent basis'.
Bibliography
Andrews MA, 1991, The Birth of Europe; Colliding Continents and the Destiny of Nations.
Champion T, Gamble, C., Shennan, S., Whittle, A., 1984, Prehistoric Europe.
Roe D, 1970, Prehistory: An Introduction.