Graecopithecus freybergi lived 7.2 million years ago in the dust-laden savannah of the Athens Basin. Image credit: Velizar Simeonovski.
The origin of the hominines (African apes and humans) is among the most hotly debated topics in paleoanthropology.
The traditional view, ever since Charles Darwin, holds that hominines and hominins (humans and fossil relatives) originate in Africa, where the earliest hominins are found and where all living non-human hominines live.
More recently a European origin has been proposed, based on the analysis of Late Miocene apes from Europe and Central Anatolia.
Anadoluvius turkae attests to a lengthy history of hominines in Europe, with multiple species in the eastern Mediterranean known for at least 2.3 million years.
“Our findings further suggest that hominines not only evolved in western and central Europe but spent over 5 million years evolving there and spreading to the eastern Mediterranean before eventually dispersing into Africa, probably as a consequence of changing environments and diminishing forests,” said Professor David Begun, a paleontologist at the University of Toronto.
“The members of this radiation to which Anadoluvius turkae belongs are currently only identified in Europe and Anatolia.” READ MORE...
The traditional view, ever since Charles Darwin, holds that hominines and hominins (humans and fossil relatives) originate in Africa, where the earliest hominins are found and where all living non-human hominines live.
More recently a European origin has been proposed, based on the analysis of Late Miocene apes from Europe and Central Anatolia.
Anadoluvius turkae attests to a lengthy history of hominines in Europe, with multiple species in the eastern Mediterranean known for at least 2.3 million years.
“Our findings further suggest that hominines not only evolved in western and central Europe but spent over 5 million years evolving there and spreading to the eastern Mediterranean before eventually dispersing into Africa, probably as a consequence of changing environments and diminishing forests,” said Professor David Begun, a paleontologist at the University of Toronto.
“The members of this radiation to which Anadoluvius turkae belongs are currently only identified in Europe and Anatolia.” READ MORE...
