Human evolution has been a mysterious topic for experts to talk about for years. Unsupported claims, unlinked evidence and other theories have seemed to cause a lot of debate in the scientific community. But we’ve always been taught that mankind was born in Africa. Well, this isn’t true according to science!
Shocking data points that the original split from ape happened in Europe. This claim is contrary to what we’ve read in history books, which have said that mankind originated in Africa seven million years ago and that early man stayed there for five million years before migrating to other continents.
Two ape-like fossils with human teeth were recently discovered in Southeastern Europe, more precisely in Bulgaria and Greece, and date back to over 7 million years.
The ape-like remains were given an official name, Graecopithecus freybergi, or “El Graeco” for short. Scientists found that humans began to evolve in Europe 200,000 years earlier than the earliest African hominid.
Researchers say that this changes history since the beginning of man and place the missing relative (aka missing link) between human and ape in the Mediterranean region.
Climate change caused them to walk
Due to the major climate changes that affected the Southeastern region, the apes were forced to travel longer distances in order to find shelter and food. This eventually led them to walk straight on two feet.
El Graeco isn’t an ape, rather a direct ancestor of the human linage. These human predecessors ate dry Savannah vegetation as opposed to great apes. Due to their unique diet, researchers found that they had human-like wide molars – something that great apes didn’t have.
They’re older than the oldest African hominid
This result shocked scientists because until this finding, the oldest hominid originated from sub-Saharan Africa. Now, researchers will focus their attention in Europe and focus on working to connect even more dots that haven’t been connected in Africa.
It’s known that the Mediterranean sea dried up at times, which caused a bridge to form. Our early ancestors used to cross this path in order to reach to Africa.
The data points to one big reason that caused human evolution and that’s environmental change. Due to this, the descendants of early El Graeco aren’t believed to have passed away, but have most likely shifted to Africa.
The split from ape to human happened in Europe, not Africa, say a team of researchers from the University of Toronto.
There has been some skepticism around this controversial finding by experts. Some argue that there’s too much substantial evidence in Africa along with fossil proof of evolution that it over weighs the two fossils found in Europe.
If accepted, this theory will change everything we thought we knew about human origin. This research has been published in the scientific journal PLOS One.