The fragmentary facial bones belong to Homo affinis erectus, an esoteric offshoot of our family tree that inhabited Spain more than one million years ago.

Fragments of the left side of the skull of a human relative have been discovered in Spain, revealing the face of the oldest human ancestor ever discovered in Western Europe.

The prehistoric facial bones were found buried in 50 feet of mud and silt, and are believed to be 1.1 to 1.4 million years old, researchers said.