New U-series dates on the Petralona cranium, a key fossil in European human evolution
Journal: Journal of Human Evolution
Year: 2025

Assigning an age to the nearly complete cranium found in the Petralona Cave in Greece is of outstanding importance because this fossil has a key position in European human evolution. This topic has been debated since its discovery more than 60 years ago, highlighting the difficulties in applying physical dating methods to prehistoric samples. Previous results obtained on various types of samples yielded a large age range between about 170 and 700 ka, precluding any consensus on the age of the hu