From Newsgroup: sci.anthropology.paleo
https://phys.org/news/2025-08-mystery-greek-hominin-skull-dated.html
Research led by Institut de Pal|-ontologie Humaine
is providing a finite minimum age for a nearly
complete cranium from Petralona Cave in Greece
that has perplexed researchers since its discovery
in 1960.
The mystery of the Petralona Cave skull centers
around two intriguing unknowns. First, while it is
clearly of the Homo genus, it is distinctly
different from both Neanderthals and current modern
humans. Next, dating the skull has remained
difficult to narrow down, with previous estimates
spanning about 170,000 to 700,000 years in age.
In the study, "New U-series dates on the Petralona
cranium, a key fossil in European human evolution,"
published in the Journal of Human Evolution,
researchers present new U-series dates performed on
the calcite that grew directly on the cranium to
provide crucial information on the age of the
fossil.
...
Results from the calcite crust on the cranium
provide a finite minimum age of 286,000 -# 9,000
years (or 286 -# 9 ka). If it initially remained dry
or covered, the skull could have been in the cave
much longer, as the dating technique can only
determine when it began