As David Bigoon, a University of Toronto paleoanthropologist and co-author of the paper, explains, this is about the common ancestor of hominins, a subfamily of hominids, not about ancient humans who had already diverged from a common ancestor. with chimpanzees and gorillas.

what is known

In their study, paleoanthropologists examined the recently discovered bones of an 8.7-million-year-old ape found in Central Anatolia. This species was named Anatolovius turkae.

Central Anatolia, one of the seven regions of Turkey / Photograph TUBS/Wikimedia

• The finding shows: animals weighed about 50-60 kilogramsroughly like modern chimpanzees.
• Based on bones of other animals found nearby and other geological evidence, scientists suggested that this species lived in dry forests like the first humans in Africa.
• They had strong jaws and large, thick enamel teeth, which meant that their diet consisted mostly of solid foods such as roots.
• A. turkae mostly lived on the ground.

Anadoluvius turkae fossil excavation in Turkey / Photograph: Ayla Sevim-Erol, University of Toronto

Division into several new species occurs, which then begin to migrate to other regions.

After this separation, most of human evolutionary history was spent in Africa. It is also very likely that chimpanzees and humans were already separated from each other in Africa.
– Says the runner.

Scientists suggest that A. turkae together with other species found in neighboring regions (Ouranopithecus in Greece and Turkey, Graecopithecus in Bulgaria) formed a group of early hominins that lived in Asia Minor and the eastern Mediterranean.