Tetoiu is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

located in

Vâlcea County Vâlcea County (also spelt ''Vîlcea''; ) is a county (județ) of Romania. Located in the historical regions of Oltenia and Muntenia (which are separated by the Olt River), it is also part of the wider Wallachia region. Its capital city is Râ ...

Oltenia Oltenia (, also called Lesser Wallachia in antiquated versions, with the alternative Latin names ''Wallachia Minor'', ''Wallachia Alutana'', ''Wallachia Caesarea'' between 1718 and 1739) is a historical province and geographical region of Romania ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. It is composed of seven villages: Băroiu, Budele, Măneasa, Nenciulești, Popești, Tetoiu, and Țepești. In the Bugiulești area in 1962, the

paleoanthropologist Paleoanthropology or paleo-anthropology is a branch of paleontology and anthropology which seeks to understand the early development of anatomically modern humans, a process known as hominization, through the reconstruction of evolutionary kinsh ...

Constantin S. Nicolăescu-Plopșor uncovered several humanoid fossilised bone fragments, including a skull, believed to belong to a variety of ''

Homo habilis ''Homo habilis'' ("handy man") is an extinct species of archaic human from the Early Pleistocene of East and South Africa about 2.31 million years ago to 1.65 million years ago (mya). Upon species description in 1964, ''H. habilis'' was highly ...

'' (dubbed ''Homo olteniensis'' or ''Australoanthropus olteniensis'') dating back roughly two million years, which would make them the oldest hominid fossils in Europe, although the discovery and authenticity has been questioned. Some of the artefacts are currently exhibited in the

Museum of Oltenia The Museum of Oltenia ( ro, Muzeul Olteniei) is a multidisciplinary museum in the city of Craiova, Oltenia, Romania. The archaeology section of museum was founded on 1 April 1915. The natural history section was founded in 1923 and the museum as ...

Craiova Craiova (, also , ), is Romania's 6th Cities in Romania, largest city and capital of Dolj County, and situated near the east bank of the river Jiu River, Jiu in central Oltenia. It is a longstanding political center, and is located at approximatel ...

, although the more "controversial" findings are located in the

Vasile Pârvan Institute of Archaeology The Vasile Pârvan Institute of Archaeology ( ro, Institutul de Arheologie "Vasile Pârvan" ) is an institute of the Romanian Academy, located in Bucharest, Romania and specialized in prehistory, ancient history, classical archeology and medieval ...

References

Communes in Vâlcea County Localities in Oltenia {{Vâlcea-geo-stub