8.7-Million-Year-Old Skull Suggests We Didn't Evolve in Africa After All
coolgopher writes:
An article in The Age reports on a find that could up-end much of what we believe on the origin of humans.
Africa has always been considered the cradle of mankind, where humans evolved from apes on the continent before spreading to the rest of the world.
An intriguing find is challenging the long-standing assumption.
The partial skull of a new ancient ape has been discovered in Turkey, and it appears to predate African apes, suggesting that human origins may actually lie in Europe.
The fossil of Anadoluvius turkae was discovered in Cankiri, a city about 138 kilometres north-east of Ankara, and is thought to date from about 8.7 million years ago.
In contrast, early hominins - the group that includes chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, humans, and their fossil ancestors - were not seen in Africa until about 7 million years ago.
It suggests that the ancestors of African apes and humans evolved in Europe before migrating south between 9 million and 7 million years ago.
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