An international team of anthropologists has revised the timing and place of the appearance of the first representatives of Homo (people). Two relevant studies are published in the journal PLOS ONE and are briefly reported by the University of Toronto (Canada).
Fragments of the remains of two representatives of the species Graecopithecus freybergi, found in the Balkan Peninsula, led to the conclusion that the isolation of Homo into an independent genus within the subfamily Homininae (hominins) occurred about 7.2 million years ago in the Eastern Mediterranean.
According to experts, the species Graecopithecus freybergi is one of the first representatives of the human genus (or preceded it). Scientists believe that the formation of Homo was facilitated by the migration of ancient primates from North Africa, which occurred due to drought.
Scientists came to such conclusions by analyzing the anthropological features of the surviving fragments of ancient people (the lower jaw and the premolar of the upper jaw), as well as conducting a radioisotope analysis of the accompanying geological deposits (dust and salts).
Previously, scientists believed that the first people arose six to seven million years ago in Africa, where a representative of the genus Sahelanthropus, another predecessor of the first Homo, was discovered.
According to the currently accepted systematics of Homo, which includes the species Homo sapiens, together with the genera Pan (chimpanzees) and Gorilla (gorillas) form the subfamily Homininae, which together with Ponginae (pongins) constitutes the family Hominidae (hominids). Currently, it includes seven surviving animal species, the closest to Homo sapiens (Homo sapiens) is Pan paniscus (bonobos).
