Humanity did not originate in Africa, but in Europe. This sensational statement was made by an international research group from the University of Tubingen, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the University of Toronto. Having studied the remains of great apes found in Bulgaria and Greece, scientists came to the conclusion that this species of primates appeared on European territory 7.2 million years ago, that is, at least 200 thousand years earlier than in Africa, which is considered the cradle of civilization. RT figured out how Bulgaria could become the ancestral home of man.
The world's first European
Scientists from the University of Tubingen, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the University of Toronto examined a tooth and lower jaw of a great ape found in Greece, found in Bulgaria. According to experts, the fossil remains belong to the direct ancestor of man, who appeared on European territory about 7.2 million years ago - at least 200 thousand years earlier than in Africa. According to the authors of the study, this proves that great apes appeared in Europe, but then migrated to the African continent due to unfavorable climatic changes.
Using computed tomography, scientists examined the internal structure of the fossilized remains of the Grecopithecus, Graecopithecus freybergi. In both the jaw and the molar, the researchers were able to find traits that bring Graecopithecus closer to great apes.
“Monkeys tend to have distinctly separated tooth roots, and Grecopithecus teeth are partially fused, which is characteristic of modern and ancient humans, as well as several of their ancestors,” explained Professor Madeline Boehme of the University of Tübingen, who participated in the study.
New homeland
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According to Boehme and colleagues, climate change has forced great apes to seek new sources of food.
This hypothesis, however, is ready to argue with the candidate of biological sciences, associate professor of the Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Biology, Moscow State University. Lomonosov, scientific editor of the portal "Antropogenesis.ru" Stanislav Drobyshevsky. As he noted, a straight line can be traced from African finds from the first anthropoid to modern humans.
“But these Europeans - yes, they are kindred great apes, who would doubt it. They are quite similar to gorillas, but they are not human ancestors, at least in my personal opinion,”the scientist concluded.
One tooth is not enough
It seems more likely to Stanislav Drobyshevsky that these anthropoid species have become extinct in Europe. In the Miocene epoch, 7-10 million years ago, many great apes lived in both Europe and Asia. At the same time, climatic changes were taking place that really made them migrate.
“It is a fact that they migrated, but these were not the animals that could take off and go to explore a new continent. Primates move slowly through forests. And the time of the late Miocene is a period when forests disappeared, so it was extremely problematic for them to move somewhere, ” explained Drobyshevsky. - Only those who lived in tropical forests remained - now we have chimpanzees and gorillas, for example - and those who have adapted to the African savannah, in fact, Australopithecines. Those who lived in Europe died happily."
Among foreign researchers, the results of an international group of scientists also cause skepticism. Among them is the anthropologist Peter Andrews, who was one of the first to suggest that human ancestors originated outside of Africa. He said that changing his opinion about the history of mankind on the basis of just one find seems to him an unfortunate decision.
"The emergence of direct human ancestors in Europe is in principle possible, but a very significant body of evidence, including several skeletons and skulls, speaks in favor of the version of the origin of man from Africa," says Andrews.
Anastasia Klepneva