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The earliest evidence for anatomically modern humans in northwestern Europe

This work is enormously important to our understanding of early human history because it reveals that modern humans arrived in Europe at a much earlier time than previously believed, so that Neanderthals and modern humans co-existed in the same region until the Neanderthals' mysterious decline. The microCT virtual reconstruction of the jawbone fragment at Hull showed not only that it had been pieced together incorrectly, but allowed detailed internal and external analysis of the dental features confirming early modern human characteristics (http://www.nhm.ac.uk/about-us/news/2011/november/devon-jawbone-reveals-earliest-nw-european104100.html). The paper received significant interest in the press and appeared on the BBC’s Today programme and (e.g.) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/evolution/8864941/Earliest-known-European-died-in-Torquay.html.