Europe was the birthplace of mankind, not Africa, scientists find

[Mister Cheese]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2...ientists-find/

The history of human evolution has been rewritten after scientists discovered that Europe was the birthplace of mankind, not Africa.

Currently, most experts believe that our human lineage split from apes around seven million years ago in central Africa, where hominids remained for the next five million years before venturing further afield.

But two fossils of an ape-like creature which had human-like teeth have been found in Bulgaria and Greece, dating to 7.2 million years ago.

The discovery of the creature, named Graecopithecus freybergi, and nicknameded ‘El Graeco' by scientists, proves our ancestors were already starting to evolve in Europe 200,000 years before the earliest African hominid.

An international team of researchers say the findings entirely change the beginning of human history and place the last common ancestor of both chimpanzees and humans - the so-called Missing Link - in the Mediterranean region.

So um.. this is probably going to piss some people off. I'm genuinely surprised by this too though. It's interesting to see what scientists are still digging up. A lot of history books, specifically what kids are taught are going to have to be rewritten now to teach this. I would assume that most people know that early humans had their start in Africa but this does change a lot.

[Deleted]

Interesting.

[Netherspark]

Misleading title. Misleading article.

[ONCHEhap]

I'd rather wait a bit to see the final conclusions they come up with before anything,but it's nice to see that we're still finding out stuff like that

[Mister Cheese]

Misleading title. Misleading article.

Misleading how? Says in the article don't jump to conclusions.

[Vanyali]

The place where humans split off from apes is largely irrelevant for homo sapiens specifically; homo sapiens is pretty definitively still in africa and spreading outward, as are most hominid lineages.

[TriHard]

Ahh. Can't wait to shove this up in Twitch chat's face.

FeelsGoodMan
New spicy meme inc.

[God Save The King]

Pretty cool stuff. I remember watching a lot of documentaries about the origins of Humans, so this kind of disrupts all that. Naturally we need to wait and see what the scientific community comes up with, but it's exciting to be around when this is happening.

[Deleted]

In addition to the misleading thread title, I'd just wait a bit to confirm any findings, rather than jump to conclusions about what some random someone in random somewhere "found". There are plenty of "scientists" out there who are a bit triggerhappy with their "findings", not to mention the fame seekers and the ones going after an easy buck.

[ParanoiD84]

Interesting indeed.

[p0werslav3]

This quote from the end of the article sums it up nicely. There is way more evidence needed to accept the European origins hypothesis.

"It is possible that the human lineage originated in Europe, but very substantial fossil evidence places the origin in Africa, including several partial skeletons and skulls.

"I would be hesitant about using a single character from an isolated fossil to set against the evidence from Africa."

[I Push Buttons]

Some people may not realize it, but it's kind of a thing in anthropology to find a few teeth or a skull or something and hastily make an outrageous claim. It's certainly not impossible, but neither dating nor interpretation of fossil remains are perfectly accurate in all situations, and a few teeth are not enough to do more than open a new line of inquiry. However, I think the title of the article overstates what they're claiming by talking about "the birthplace of mankind," as this is merely a proposed first hominin, not the site at which H. sapiens first emerged.

One of the specimens this study is about was found in 1944... The other in 2009...

[Moralgy]

I highly doubt this is going to be accepted. Right now those findings stand as outliers to the current information we have regarding where humans "began". It would take more findings in the general region to even make a ripple on the current model. Interesting none the less, I love hearing about these things given my love for anthropology.

[Logwyn]

Does it really matter in the larger scheme of things? Its nice to know I guess. But the fact that humans started in place X vs place Y isn't going to make my job any better or worse. Or stop the sun from coming up in the east and setting in the west...

[Deleted]

No we are not even from this planet. Makes no sense. We either come from space or other dimensions.

[Nihilist74]

This sounds more like an anomaly than blanket truth than humanity evolved in Europe instead of Africa. If their claims are not erroneous, I would think this is more of a rare anomaly.

[Celista]

I highly doubt this is going to be accepted. Right now those findings stand as outliers to the current information we have regarding where humans "began". It would take more findings in the general region to even make a ripple on the current model. Interesting none the less, I love hearing about these things given my love for anthropology.

I agree, more information/findings needed before this can be considered definitive.

[Puupi]

Interesting!

The place where humans split off from apes is largely irrelevant for homo sapiens specifically; homo sapiens is pretty definitively still in africa and spreading outward, as are most hominid lineages.

We don't know that. It's just an assumption based on findings of homo sapiens remains. It's also quite a mess really. There are homo sapiens sapiens (supposedly what we are right now), and homo sapiens neanderthalensis. So what are those people today who have neanderthal genes in them?

[Deleted]

Interesting!


We don't know that. It's just an assumption based on findings of homo sapiens remains. It's also quite a mess really. There are homo sapiens sapiens (supposedly what we are right now), and homo sapiens neanderthalensis. So what are those people today who have neanderthal genes in them?

Homo Sapiens Sapiens Neanderthalensis

but let's settle for snowflake

[Alydael]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2...ientists-find/



So um.. this is probably going to piss some people off. I'm genuinely surprised by this too though. It's interesting to see what scientists are still digging up. A lot of history books, specifically what kids are taught are going to have to be rewritten now to teach this. I would assume that most people know that early humans had their start in Africa but this does change a lot.

It doesn't matter if people are upset or not, facts are facts. I long suspected this. The "fertile crescent" can be a little unforgiving weather wise, it didn't make sense to me that mankind would have been born there (unless we lost adaptions through evolution we previously had). I also think that this latest evidence is not the end of the story either.

I do not actually think we will ever find enough scientific evidence to know exactly were we originated, but each piece is a little closer to solving the puzzle.