Rmoutilova/npj heritage science
New facial reconstruction shows what one of Europe’s first modern women could have looked like. Zlatý kůň lived 45 thousand years ago and probably had dark skin, eyes and hair.
A new facial reconstruction of a skull from ca. 45 thousand years suggests that some of the first Homo sapiens to settle in Europe had broad faces, short, wide noses and features still close to those of the populations that left Africa.
The study, in npj Heritage Science, focuses on the skull known as Golden horsefound in 1950 in the current Czech Republic and currently kept in the National Museum, in Prague. The fossil, belonging to a prehistoric woman, is considered one of the oldest and best-preserved remains of modern humans in Europe.
Restos de esqueletos de Golden Horse.
Its conservation allowed researchers to apply different facial approximation methods to try to understand what this woman might have looked like, who lived a few millennia after the first crossings between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals.
The team produced three models. The first (model A) was created by applying known thicknesses of soft tissue and facial muscles to the skull. The second — B — resulted from the work of paleoartist and sculptor Élisabeth Daynès, who used scientific data provided by researchers to create a hyper-realistic manual approximation.
The third, model C, was produced digitally, based on the virtual mapping of 78 bone anatomical points, according to .
The first two models revealed similar results: a short and wide nose, a wide nasal bridge and a rounded but not very prominent nasal tip. The third model had a higher forehead, narrower nose and more pointed chin, forming a more triangular face.
By comparing these reconstructions with photographs of modern-day Czech and Cameroonian women, researchers concluded that the Models A and B were closer to the variation observed in the Cameroonian sample, while model C was closer to the Czech profile.
According to genetic analysis, Zlatý kůň’s wife would probably have dark skin, eyes and hair, characteristics common among the first humans who left Africa. Lighter pigmentation only appeared later, as an adaptation to more northern latitudes, where sunlight is less intense.
The authors further point out that Wide faces and broad noses may have advantages in hot, tropical climatesreinforcing the evolutionary proximity of this population to African groups.
Less clear is the role of Neanderthal heritage in his appearance. Genetic data indicates that this woman lived about 80 generations after the main episode of interbreeding between modern humans and Neanderthals.
Despite the importance of the finding, the researchers emphasize that the Zlatý kůň population appears to represent a human branch with no known genetic descent in later Stone Age or present-day populations.
