Anadolvius lived about 9 million years ago and is the ancestor of modern African apes and humans.
The recent discovery of an 8.7-million-year-old ape fossil from a Turkish site has cast doubt on long-held ideas about the origins of humans. The findings support the hypothesis that the ancestors of African apes and humans evolved in Europe and then migrated to Africa about 7-9 million years ago.
An analysis of a newly identified ape named Anadolvius turcae, recovered from the Cholakierler fossil locality near Chancur, with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Turkiye, indicates that Mediterranean fossil apes are diverse and the first known shown to be part of an early human divergence. This includes African apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas), humans, and their fossil ancestors.
This finding is explained in a recently published study. communication biology The book is co-authored by an international team of researchers led by Professor David Begun of the University of Toronto (T University) and Professor Ayla Sevim Erol of Ankara University.
“Our findings suggest that hominids not only evolved in Western and Central Europe, but also evolved there over a period of more than 5 million years, spread across the Eastern Mediterranean, and eventually dispersed into Africa. This is probably the result of environmental change and deforestation,” Vigan said. “Members of this radiation to which Anadolvius belongs are currently only confirmed in Europe and Anatolia.”
This conclusion is based on analysis of a very well-preserved partial skull found at this site in 2015, which includes most of the facial structures and the front part of the brain case. .
“The completeness of the fossil allowed us to conduct a broader and more detailed analysis using many of the features and attributes coded into programs designed to calculate evolutionary relationships,” he said. Mr Vigan said. “After applying mirror imaging, the face is nearly complete. does not exist.”
The researchers said Anadolvius was about the size of a large male chimpanzee (50-60 kg), which is very large for a chimpanzee and close to the average size of a female gorilla (75-80 kg). They lived in dry forest environments. They probably spent a lot of time on the ground.
“We don’t have limb bones, but judging by its jaws and teeth, the animals found in its vicinity, and the geological indicators of the environment, Anadolvius probably differed from the forest environment of modern great apes, They probably lived in a relatively open environment,” Sevim Errol said. “It’s more like the environment we think of early humans in Africa. Powerful jaws and large, thickly enamel teeth suggest a diet that included hard terrestrial foods such as roots and rhizomes.” ”
The animals that lived with Anadolvius are commonly associated with the grasslands and dry forests of Africa today, including giraffes, warty pigs, rhinos, various antelopes, zebras, elephants, porcupines, hyenas, and lion-like carnivores. animal. The ecological community appears to have dispersed from the eastern Mediterranean to Africa at some point after about 8 million years ago, according to the study.
“The origins of modern African cultivating fauna from the eastern Mediterranean have long been known, and we can now add African apes and hominin ancestors to the list of entrants,” said Sevim Errol. .
This discovery proves that Anadoluvius turchae is part of the evolutionary lineage that gave rise to chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and humans. At present, African apes, like the earliest known humans, are only known from Africa, but the authors of this study (Aegean University of Turkiye, Pamukkale University, Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands) (including colleagues) conclude that the ancestors of both came from Africa. Europe and the eastern Mediterranean.
Anadoruvius and other fossil apes from neighboring Greece (Ouranopithecus) and Bulgaria (Graecopithecus) are closest to the earliest known humans, or humans, in many anatomical and ecological details. forming a group. The new fossils are the best-preserved specimens of this early hominid group and provide the strongest evidence yet that the group originated in Europe and later dispersed into Africa.
A detailed analysis of the study also revealed that Balkan and Anatolian apes evolved from Western and Central European ancestors. With more comprehensive data, this study provides evidence that these other apes were also hominids. This implies that the entire group likely evolved and diversified in Europe, rather than another scenario in which separate divisions of apes migrated to Europe independently some million years ago from Africa. It survived for a long time and then went extinct without problems.
“Although there is no evidence for the latter, it remains a popular proposition among those who do not accept the European origin theory,” Vigan said. “These findings contrast the long-held view that African apes and humans evolved only in Africa. Although early hominid remains are abundant in Europe and Anatolia, they first appeared about 7 million years ago. They did not exist in Africa at all until hominids appeared in Africa.
“This new evidence supports, but conclusively supports, the hypothesis that hominids originated in Europe and dispersed into Africa with many other mammals between 9 and 7 million years ago. To do that, we need to find more fossils from Europe and Africa that are 8-7 million years old to establish a definitive link between the two groups.”
References: “New Ape and Late Miocene Hominid Radioactivity from Turkiye” by Ira Sevim Errol, Dr. Begun, Ç. Sönmez Sözer, S. Mayda, LW van den Hoek Ostende, RMG Martin, M. Cihat Alçiçek, 23 August 2023, communication biology.
DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-05210-5
The research was funded by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Directorate General of Cultural Heritage and Museums, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Ankara University, and the Turkish Historical Society.