Archaeologists in Spain have unearthed skull fragments from a Neanderthal who would have roamed the region some 60,000 years ago. They are the first Neanderthal human remains to be uncovered since excavations began 40 years ago at the Abric Romaní site in Spain’s Catalonia region. /laprensalatina/

In four decades of excavations led by Eudald Carbonell, a professor of Prehistory at the Rovira i Virgili University, archaeologists have peeled back 300 square meters of ground to a depth of 12 meters and have come across animal fragments, stone tools, housing and wood remains. /Photo via Twitter: @iphes/

The skull fragments that were meticulously extracted from the site pertain to the parietal, temporal and zygomatic bones of the skull — that is, fragments of the sloping side of the cranium, the temple area and the lower eye socket. /Photo via Twitter: @iphes/

The find was dated to roughly 20,000 years before Neanderthals are thought to have gone extinct. (Xinhua)

Archaeologist Eudald Carbonell explained that a series of bone remains covered with concrete were recovered. After cleaning and analyzing them by various specialists, it was determined that these remains corresponded to a partial Neanderthal skull. /Photo via Twitter: @iphes/

Over the days, geological samples have been and will continue to be taken from the homes associated with the remains and that will be processed later in the laboratories of the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution. /Photo via Twitter: @iphes/