7.2 MILLION-YEAR-OLD PRE-HUMAN
FOSSIL SUGGESTS MANKIND AROSE IN EUROPE NOT AFRICA
The Lower Jaw of
the 7.175 Million-Year-Old Graecopithecus
Freybergi (EL
GRAECO) from Pyrgos Vassilissis, Greece (today in Metropolitan Athens). (Photo: Wolfgang Gerber, University of
Tübingen)
A new analysis of two 7.2 Million-Year-Old
Fossils belonging to a Hominin Species Nicknamed “EL GRAECO”, from Mediterranean Europe, suggests that Mankind
Emerged in Europe and not in Africa.
The new study could reshape
history, since it openly challenges the “out
of Africa Theory.”
THE OUT OF AFRICA THEORY IN SERIOUS DOUBT
When an ancient, toothy lower jaw was discovered back in 1944 in Pyrgos
Vassilissis, Greece, nobody really paid attention to the fossil as the
casualties in Greece from World War II were so catastrophic that the extremely
significant discovery was literally ignored by most anthropologists.
A mix
of, Hominid (Genus Homo) depictions; (from right to left) H. Habilis, H. Ergaster, H. Erectus; H.
Antecessor - Male, Female, H. Heidelbergensis; H. Neanderthalensis - Girl,
Male, H. Sapiens Sapiens.
When it comes to Modern Human’s
Origins, the “Out of Africa” hypothesis has remained the dominant theory for
decades, which suggests that every living human being is descended from a Small
Group in Africa, who then dispersed into the wider world displacing earlier
forms such as Neanderthals and Denisovans.
However, according to Sky News reports, the birthplace of modern human beings
may have been the eastern Mediterranean and not Africa, as an international
team of scientists studying the ancient fossils of a tooth and lower jawbone,
now suggest.
Studied
Specimens and Virtual Reconstructions of the Holotype of Graecopithecus.
(Potential Hominin Affinities of
Graecopithecus from the Late Miocene of Europe)
EL GRAECO APPEARS TO BE THE OLDEST KNOWN PRE-HUMAN IN
HISTORY
In 2012, the Ancient Jaw Bone, was joined by a Fossilized Premolar Tooth
uncovered in Azmaka, Bulgaria.
Scientists suggest that the
remains belonged to an Ape-Like Creature, GRAECOPITHECUS FREYBERGI, which is now
believed to be the oldest known Pre-Human,
dating back as far as 7.2 million years.
With the help of Micro-Computed
Tomography and 3D reconstructions of the Roots and Internal Structure of the Fossilized
Teeth, the researchers discovered distinctive features of contemporary humans
and their early ancestors.
A 7.24 Million-Year-Old
Upper Premolar of Graecopithecus from Azmaka, Bulgaria.
(Photo: Wolfgang Gerber, University of
Tübingen)
Project Director Madelaine Böhme of the Senckengberg
Center for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment at the University of Tübingen,
co-author Nikolai Spassov from the
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, and their colleagues examined both the Pyrgos Fossil,
and the related Upper Premolar Tooth.
“El Graeco, is the Oldest Known
Potential Hominin; he is Several Hundred Thousand Years Older than the Oldest
Potential Pre-Human from Africa: 6–7-Million-Year-Old Sahelanthropus from
Chad,” Spassov stated as Seeker reports.
COMPUTER TOMOGRAPHY SHOWS HUMAN-LIKE FEATURES
Anthropologists refer to “El Graeco” as Hominin or Pre-Human for now,
because the Last Common Ancestor of Modern Humans and chimps retained both Non-Human
Primate and Human Characteristics.
However, with the help of Computer
Tomography, Böhme and her colleagues noticed, that El Graeco’s features were
evolving into more like Modern Human-Like Forms, “While great Apes typically
have 2 or 3 separate and diverging Roots, the Roots of GRAECOPITHECUS converge and are Partially
Fused — a feature that is Characteristic of Modern Humans, Early Humans and
Several Pre-Humans including ARDIPITHECUS
and AUSTRALOPITHECUS,” Böhme said in a statement as Seeker reports.
Root Morphology
in P4 of cf. GRAECOPITHECUS sp., and
O. MACEDONIENSIS.
(Potential Hominin affinities of GRAECOPITHECUS,
from the Late Miocene of Europe)
Furthermore, one of the
researchers, David Begun from the University of Toronto, believes that if we
move GRAECOPITHECUS, to our own
line, then mankind’s history could be re-written.
If this is indeed a human, it
would be the Oldest Human Ancestor known and the first to be identified outside
of Africa.
Ever since Darwin, conventional Wisdom
is that the last common Ancestor of Chimpanzees and Humans Lived in Africa.
Our research shows that the Earliest
Humans, may have evolved in Europe, he tells Science Alert.
EL GRAECO’S DESCENDANTS MAY HAVE MIGRATED TO AFRICA
Although, Böhme appears to be confident that El Graeco’s ancestors are
Eurasian Hominines, such as OURAANOPITHECUS
from Greece, she and her team are not ruling out the scenario that some of his
descendants possibly migrated to Africa at some point.
Of course, they consider it most
possible that several of his descendants, as well as other early Pre-Humans,
remained in the Mediterranean and spread throughout Europe and Asia.
If this theory is true, then it’s
very possible that his descendants could have evolved into Neanderthals,
Denisovans, and the other early humans known from these Geographical Areas that
are directly related to people of European and Asian Origin Nowadays.
The only sure thing is that if more evidence confirms such theories in
the near future, Human History as we know it today would drastically change.
As Spassov tells Seeker, “Our New Hypothesis, is a Smoking Gun.”
Top Image: The lower
jaw of the 7.175 million-year-old Graecopithecus freybergi (El Graeco) from
Pyrgos Vassilissis, Greece (today in metropolitan Athens). (Photo: Wolfgang Gerber,
University of Tübingen)
By Theodoros Karasavvas
