A recent discovery in Türkiye is shaking up our understanding of human evolution. Scientists have identified a new fossil ape,
Anadoluvius turkae, from an 8.7-million-year-old site near Çankırı. This find challenges the long-held belief that human ancestors evolved solely in Africa, suggesting instead that Europe played a significant role in our evolutionary history. The fossil, uncovered at the Çorakyerler site with support from Türkiye’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, reveals that Mediterranean fossil apes were more diverse than previously thought.
These apes are part of the earliest known
group of hominins, which includes not only African apes like chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas but also humans and their fossil ancestors. This discovery adds weight to the theory that the ancestors of African apes and humans may have evolved in Europe before migrating to Africa between nine and seven million years ago.
Professor David Begun from the
University of Toronto and Professor Ayla Sevim Erol from
Ankara University led the international team of researchers who conducted the study.
“Our findings further suggest that hominines not only evolved in western and central Europe but spent over five million years evolving there and spreading to the eastern Mediterranean before eventually dispersing into Africa, probably as a consequence of changing environments and diminishing forests,” explained Professor Begun. “The members of this radiation to which Anadoluvius turkae belongs are currently only identified in Europe and Anatolia.”
