Torquay is the earliest known human settlement in north-western Europe
A human jawbone, unearthed in Kents Cavern in Torquay is between 44,200 and 41,500 years old making it the oldest modern human fossil in north-western Europe and certainly in Britain according to research published on the 2nd November 2011 in Nature, the internationally renowned science magazine.
The Kents Cavern jawbone, a maxilla (upper jawbone), was found in 1927 and has been intriguing scientists for decades. In 1989 it was dated at 31,000 years old and tests were carried out recently to determine if it could be Neanderthal.
This latest study was led by Dr Thomas Higham of the University of Oxford and Professor Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London. It confirms the jawbone is not Neanderthal but in fact the oldest anatomically modern human fossil ever to have been discovered in this part of Europe.
Learn more about this jawbone at Kents Cavern or better still, come to Torquay and see for yourselves.