New Turkish fossil ape is a problem for human origin theories

The proposition in this new study introduces the idea that these hominines traversed the eastern Mediterranean and later migrated to Africa. Begun suggested this was probably due to changing environments and habitat alterations.

His team of scientists analysed Anadoluvius turkae, an ape uncovered at the Çorakyerler fossil site near Çankırı in Turkey, with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. They meticulously studied a well-preserved partial skull discovered in 2015, which contains most of the facial structure and the frontal portion of the brain case. 

"The completeness of the fossil allowed us to do a broader and more detailed analysis using many characters and attributes that are coded into a program designed to calculate evolutionary relationships," Begun added.  

Anadoluvius turkae, resembling the size of a large male chimpanzee or an average-sized female gorilla, inhabited a dry forest setting. The creature's physical traits and environmental context suggest it likely spent significant time on the ground. 

The robust jaws and thickly enameled teeth hint at a diet involving hard food items akin to the dietary patterns of early humans in Africa. 

Coexisting with lion-like carnivores

Beyond shedding light on Anadoluvius itself, the discovery offers insights into its contemporaries. 

The fossil ape coexisted with a range of animals familiar in modern African grasslands and dry forests: giraffes, wart hogs, rhinos, antelopes, zebras, elephants, porcupines, hyenas, and lion-like carnivores. 

These findings hint at an ecological community that migrated from the eastern Mediterranean to Africa approximately eight million years ago.

Perhaps the most compelling outcome of this discovery is its role in connecting Anadoluvius to the lineage, leading to chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and humans. 

While these apes are presently associated with Africa, the study's authors propose that their shared ancestors could have originated in Europe and the eastern Mediterranean. 

This proposition is reinforced by the presence of similar fossil apes in Greece (Ouranopithecus) and Bulgaria (Graecopithecus).

In essence, this Türkiye-based revelation invites us to reconsider our understanding of early hominines and their complex origins. 

As this story continues to unfold, it serves as a reminder that the path of evolution is more intricate and intriguing than we previously imagined. 

In the ever-evolving narrative of human history, each discovery brings us closer to comprehending the diverse and captivating journey that has led us to where we are today.

The complete study was published in Communications Biology on August 23 and can be found here.

Study abstract:

Fossil apes from the eastern Mediterranean are central to the debate on African ape and human (hominine) origins. Current research places them either as hominines, as hominins (humans and our fossil relatives) or as stem hominids, no more closely related to hominines than to pongines (orangutans and their fossil relatives). Here we show, based on our analysis of a newly identified genus, Anadoluvius, from the 8.7 Ma site of Çorakyerler in central Anatolia, that Mediterranean fossil apes are diverse, and are part of the first known radiation of early members of the hominines. The members of this radiation are currently only identified in Europe and Anatolia; generally accepted hominins are only found in Africa from the late Miocene until the Pleistocene. Hominines may have originated in Eurasia during the late Miocene, or they may have dispersed into Eurasia from an unknown African ancestor. The diversity of hominines in Eurasia suggests an in situ origin but does not exclude a dispersal hypothesis.