Aroeira 3

Aroeira 3

Common name	Aroeira 3
Species	Homo heidelbergensis
Age	400,000 years
Place discovered	Aroeira cave, Almonda, Torres Novas, Portugal
Date discovered	2014

Aroeira 3 is a 400,000 year old Homo heidelbergensis hominid skull which was discovered in the Aroeira cave, Portugal. It is the earliest human trace in Portugal. H. heidelbergensis existed at the transition between Homo erectus and early Neanderthals and used both stone tools and fire. The skull was damaged during the 2014 excavation but was restored in the following two years. In 2017 the description of the skull was published in PNAS. It is on display in the National Archaeology Museum (Lisbon).