内容摘要：coincides with a broader surge of populist right-wing movements across Europe.

coincides with a broader surge of populist right-wing movements across Europe.

The fossil of the left midface of a hominin between 1.1 million and 1.4 million years old recovered from the Sima del Elefante site in Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain. (Maria D. Guillén/IPHES-CERCA via AP)A collection of older fossils from early human ancestors was

, near the crossroads of eastern Europe and Asia. Those are estimated to be 1.8 million years old.The Spanish fossil is the first evidence that clearly shows human ancestors “were taking excursions into Europe” at that time, said Rick Potts, director of the Smithsonian’s Human Origins Program.But there is not yet evidence that the earliest arrivals persisted there long, he said. “They may get to a new location and then die out,” said Potts, who had no role in the study.

The partial skull bears many similarities to Homo erectus, but there are also some anatomical differences, said study co-author Rosa Huguet, an archaeologist at the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution in Tarragona, Spain.Dr. Rosa Huguet, a researcher at IPHES-CERCA and professor at Rovira i Virgili University, with the fossil of a hominin between 1.1 million and 1.4 million years old, found at an archaeological site in Spain. (Maria D. Guillén/IPHES-CERCA via AP)

Dr. Rosa Huguet, a researcher at IPHES-CERCA and professor at Rovira i Virgili University, with the fossil of a hominin between 1.1 million and 1.4 million years old, found at an archaeological site in Spain. (Maria D. Guillén/IPHES-CERCA via AP)

Homo erectus arose around 2 million years ago and moved from Africa to regions of Asia and Europe, with the last individuals dying out around 100,000 years ago, said Potts.In the crosshairs is

, as HUD retreats from long-established fair-housing protections by closing their discrimination complaints and, more broadly, moving to undo the Obama-era Equal Access Rule that cemented transgender people’s rights to discrimination protection in housing.“It’s time to get rid of all the far-left gender ideology and get government out of the way of what the Lord established from the beginning when he created man in his own image — male and female,” Turner

in announcing in February that he was halting enforcement of the Equal Access Rule.Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner, arrives for a National Day of Prayer event in the Rose Garden of the White House, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)