Tetoiu is a commune located in

Vâlcea County Vâlcea County (also spelt ''Vîlcea''; ) is a county (județ) that lies in south-central Romania. Located in the Historical regions of Romania, historical regions of Oltenia and Muntenia (which are separated by the Olt (river), Olt River), it i ...

Oltenia Oltenia (), also called Lesser Wallachia in antiquated versions – with the alternative Latin names , , and between 1718 and 1739 – is a historical province and geographical region of Romania in western Wallachia. It is situated between the Da ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. It is composed of seven villages: Băroiu, Budele, Măneasa, Nenciulești, Popești, Tetoiu (until 1968 ''Bugiulești'') and Țepești. In the Bugiulești area in 1962, the

paleoanthropologist Paleoanthropology or paleo-anthropology is a branch of paleontology and biological anthropology, anthropology which seeks to understand the early development of anatomically modern humans, a process known as wikt:hominization, hominization, throug ...

Constantin S. Nicolăescu-Plopșor Constantin S. Nicolăescu-Plopșor or Nicolaescu-Plopșor, sometimes shortened to N. Plopșor (; April 20, 1900 – May 30, 1968), was a Romanian historian, archaeologist, anthropologist and ethnographer, also known as a folkorist and children's w ...

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 2.4 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 in

Craiova Craiova (, also , ) is the largest city in southwestern Romania, List of Romanian cities, the seventh largest city in the country and the capital of Dolj County, situated near the east bank of the river Jiu River, Jiu in central Oltenia. It i ...

, although the more "controversial" findings are located in the Vasile Pârvan Institute of Archaeology.

References

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