Cro-Magnon ( or ; ) is a
common name that has been used to describe the first early modern humans (early
Homo sapiens sapiens) that lived in the
European Upper Paleolithic. Current scientific literature prefers the term
European early modern humans (EEMH), to the term Cro-Magnon, which has no formal taxonomic status, as it refers neither to a species or subspecies nor to an archaeological phase or culture. The earliest known remains of Cro-Magnon-like humans are
radiocarbon dated to 43-45,000 years
before present that have been discovered in Italy and Britain, with the remains found of those that reached the European Russian Arctic 40,000 years ago.