Fossils cast doubt on human lineage originating in Africa

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

SCIENCE NEWS | Mon May 22, 2017 | 6:08pm EDT

Fossils cast doubt on human lineage originating in Africa

By Will Dunham | WASHINGTON

Fossils from Greece and Bulgaria of an ape-like creature that lived 7.2 million years ago may fundamentally alter the understanding of human origins, casting doubt on the view that the evolutionary lineage that led to people arose in Africa.

Scientists said on Monday the creature, known as Graecopithecus freybergi and known only from a lower jawbone and an isolated tooth, may be the oldest-known member of the human lineage that began after an evolutionary split from the line that led to chimpanzees, our closest cousins.

The jawbone, which included teeth, was unearthed in 1944 in Athens. The premolar was found in south-central Bulgaria in 2009. The researchers examined them using sophisticated new techniques including CT scans and established their age by dating the sedimentary rock in which they were found.

They found dental root development that possessed telltale human characteristics not seen in chimps and their ancestors, placing Graecopithecus within the human lineage, known as hominins. Until now, the oldest-known hominin was Sahelanthropus, which lived 6-7 million years ago in Chad.

The scientific consensus long has been that hominins originated in Africa. ...

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-science-fossils-idUSKBN18I2HX

[left-of-center2012]

1. Very interesting

Thanks for posting.
Love these kinds of stories.

[Warpy]

2. Pushing it back 200,000 years is nothing

and we know that as soon as our early ancestors learned how to walk on two legs, reducing energy demands while allowing them to carry tools and hunting weapons, they were on the move. Whether or not they were a distinct species is moot, there is little way to extract DNA from bones that old.

Most ancient prehuman species have been found in Africa and not only in the Olduvai Gorge. While it's certainly possible that other species evolved outside Africa, it seems more likely that parent species traveled outside the continent.

[Victor_c3]

7. Something similar to what you said also occured to me

If I'm not mistaken, the Mediterranean completely dried up about that time too, making it easier for migration between Africa and Greece / Bulgaria


Edit:

Someone posted that already...

[Warpy]

8. Right, and the Sahara wasn't dried out, it was mostly savannah

I can't honestly see anyone on two legs staying put for long, they'd follow animal herds and ripening vegetation. We only developed territories when our population increased to the point that we had to.

[rurallib]

3. I will second the thanks

don't have time to dig into stuff like this much myself.

[Duppers]

5. "dig into"

Cute pun there.

[riversedge]

4. Whow--Out of Africa-- meme has been known, taught, retaught, believe for decades. whow.

So cool what science can do.

[eppur_se_muova]

6. Interesting to note that the Balkans and Africa were joined when the Mediterranean dried up ...

Some mammals are known to have migrated to Europe from Africa at the time. Perhaps hominim ancestors migrated the other way. They certainly didn't leave any direct descendants in Europe.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messinian_salinity_crisis