European fossils rewrite human evolution: Canadian prof
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Last Updated: Tuesday, February 19, 2002 | 1:06 PM ET
CBC News

   Fossils  of  ancient  human  relatives  suggest  the  beginning of the
   evolution  of  apes  and humans occurred in Europe, not Africa, says a
   University of Toronto anthropologist.

   The  fossils  of  the  oldest  common ancestor of humans and apes were
   found in Europe, suggesting the evolutionary line that led to apes and
   humans first appeared on the Eurasian continent, says David Begun.

   "This specimen is about 16.5 million years old, some 1.5 million years
   older  than  similar  species  from  East  Africa,"  said  Begun, in a
   statement.

   "It  suggests  that  the great ape and human lineage first appeared in
   Eurasia and not Africa," he said.

   Another  fossil, a 10-million-year-old partial skull found in Hungary,
   shares   many  characteristics  with  living  African  apes,  such  as
   chimpanzees and bonobos, says Begun.

   The  similarities  in  the  size  and  shape of the skull and teeth of
   modern  chimps and the fossil, Dryopithecus, suggest it is an ancestor
   of apes and humans that emerged in Europe.

   Begun  says  the  discoveries  rewrite  the  history  of  early  human
   ancestors.

   The ancestors of the family of humans and apes, the hominids, migrated
   from  Africa  to  Eurasia  about  17  million  years  ago,  before the
   expansion  of  the  Mediterranean Sea separated the two continents, he
   says.

   Then,  millions  of years later, the Dryopithecus line that would give
   rise to African apes and humans, migrated back into Africa, where they
   diverged and evolved into gorillas, chimps and apes.

   The ancestors of humans also evolved from that line, about six million
   years ago, says Begun.

   The  descriptions  of  the  fossils  appear  in  the November 2001 and
   December 2001 issues of the Journal of Human Evolution.