A Spanish-led research team has discovered a jaw bone - with some teeth still intact - that it believes is from the old-known hominin in western Europe.

The fossil mandible, found in the Sierra de Atapuerca caves in northern Spain, has been dated at more than one million years old and suggests that western Europe was settled earlier in the Early Pleistocene era than previously thought.

The fossil, designated ATE9-1, was found with stone tools and the bones of rodent-like animals in the Sima del Elefante cave at Atapuerca.

Other sites in the vicinity, such as Gran Dolina, Galeria and Sima de los Huesos, have previously yielded fossils attributed to the species Homo antecessor and Homo heidelbergensis.

The researchers, led by Eudald Carbonell of the Universitat Rovira i Virgili, have assigned ATE9-1 to the species H antecessor, a possible ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans.

The discovery of lithic tools, including four simple flakes, and cut marks on animal bones assisted in dating the fossils.

The findings are reported in the March 27 issue of Nature.

Reference: doi:10.1038/nature06815