7 million years ago, the human lineage separated from that of chimpanzees. Although this development appears to have occurred in Africa, the origin of our common ape ancestor is much less certain. While many suspect it to be on the African continent as well, the discovery of an 8.7 million-year-old skull in Turkey suggests a very different story.
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Although the lineage of modern humans emerged in Africa, the question of the origin of hominins (primate subfamily from which the human and chimpanzee lineages originate) remains one of the most debated topics in paleoanthropology. For if it is now attested that humans and apes have a common ancestor, two ideas about the place of origin of this common branch collide. Most scientists actually believe that hominins originated in Africa, but more recently another hypothesis has emerged that suggests an origin on the European continent.
Hominids, hominins and hominins
Before we continue, it is necessary to give a small semantic reminder, because it is true that the terminology often used is characterized by a certain vagueness. Modern humans (us and our ancestors of the genus Homo), but also our cousins, the australopithecines, are hominins. Hominins, along with panins (chimpanzees and bonobos), belong to the subfamily Homininae. Namely, that the separation of these two lineages occurred at least 7 million years ago. Hominins and gorillas ultimately make up the hominid family.
If it is more or less clear that the human hominin lineage originated in Africa, doubts about the origin of hominins remain. Currently, the African hypothesis is preferred because representatives of the two hominin-descended lineages (hominins and panins) have been found on African territory. However, recent discoveries have sowed doubts.
An 8.7 million year old primate that supports the hypothesis of a European origin
In fact, monkey fossils dating to the end of the Miocene (more than 5 million years ago) have been found in Europe and central Anatolia, suggesting that the presence of hominins in this area may be much older than we previously thought or even assumed that this primate subfamily , from which the human lineage emerged, had its origins in Europe. And the discovery of a skull in Turkey could well support this new hypothesis.
The skull found at the Çorakyerler site in 2015 is remarkably well preserved and allowed the identification of a new representative of the Homininae subfamily. Analysis shows that this primate, named Anadoluvius turkae, lived 8.7 million years ago. It is part of the oldest known hominin radiation, although members of this radiation have so far only been identified in Europe and Anatolia.
A long development in Europe before spreading to Africa
The skull represents an almost complete face, with the forehead and part of the skull. So many details that made it possible to reconstruct an image of Anadoluvius. It was probably a fairly large and massive primate, similar to a male chimpanzee, weighing 50 to 60 kilos. The paleoenvironmental study suggests that Anadoluvius lived in dry and more open forests, in contrast to the forest environments in which great apes live today. It certainly spent much of its time on the ground, as suggested by its powerful jaws and large, thick teeth, which must have enabled it to feed on hard foods such as roots.
These results, published in the journal Communications Biology, therefore suggest a completely different story than the one previously told. It appears that hominins first evolved in central and western Europe for more than 5 million years before colonizing the eastern Mediterranean and then spreading from there to Africa about 8 million years ago, probably due to environmental changes that led to a decline of European forests. Once on African territory, these hominins would then have diversified to give rise to the lineage of African monkeys and humans.
It has long been known that the modern fauna of the African plains (giraffes, rhinos, antelopes, elephants, etc.) originated from the fauna of the Eastern Mediterranean, spreading southward. According to this new study, the distant ancestors of humans and chimpanzees would have simply followed the same movement 9 to 7 million years ago.
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