“Out of Africa” is the phrase commonly used to explain the diaspora of humanity, suggesting that our species first evolved there before spreading all over the globe. However, now experts say a skull of an ape found in Turkey in 2015 could challenge that long-held notion.
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00:00Out of Africa is the phrase commonly used to explain the diaspora of humanity, suggesting
00:09that our species first evolved there before spreading all over the globe.
00:12However, now experts say a skull of an ape found in Turkey in 2015 could change that
00:17long-held notion.
00:19This is a skull that belonged to a species called Anadoluvius turkey, and the researchers
00:23say it's 8.7 million years old.
00:26This challenges current theories about human evolution, because humans and their ape ancestors
00:31weren't seen in Africa until 7 million years ago, meaning this evidence predates previous
00:36finds, suggesting the hominin line could have actually started in Europe, and rather migrated
00:41to Africa.
00:42Paleoanthropologist and the study's co-senior author, Professor David Begun, told The Telegraph,
00:47quote,
00:48Our findings further suggest that hominins not only evolved in Western and Central Europe,
00:52but spent over 5 million years evolving there and spreading to the Eastern Mediterranean
00:56before eventually dispersing into Africa.
00:59He adds that this move was likely due to changing environmental conditions, specifically diminishing
01:04forests.
01:05However, the researchers add that this is simply one piece of evidence, and many more
01:08would be needed to overturn the long-standing out-of-Africa evidence we already have.