Jaramillo hominin presence at Untermassfeld (Thuringia, Germany) – Or the struggle against the early 20th century “Mauer mandible paradigm”: Reply to M. Baales (2014)

Abstract

The ‘old Europe’ hypothesis is commonly accepted by the international scientific community thanks to the Early Pleistocene sites in Spain and in other areas of Europe. However, Baales comments (2014) against the archaeological evidence from Untermassfeld and the rest of the ancient sites proposing the return to the “short chronology” paradigm, whose reference is the Mauer mandible discovered in 1907. In this article, we confront his arguments, explaining in detail the stratigraphic provenience of the lithic industry and cut-marked bones recovered in the Jaramillo Upper and Lower Fluviatile Sands from Untermassfeld.