Scientists find 7.2-million-year-old pre-human remains in the Balkans

The common lineage of great apes and humans split several hundred thousand years earlier than hitherto assumed, according to an international research team headed by Professor Madelaine Böhme from the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen and Professor Nikolai Spassov from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The researchers investigated two fossils of Graecopithecus freybergi with state-of-the-art methods and came to the conclusion that they belong to pre-humans. Their findings, published today in two papers in the journal PLOS ONE, further indicate that the split of the human lineage occurred in the Eastern Mediterranean and not - as customarily assumed - in Africa.

Present-day chimpanzees are humans' nearest living relatives. Where the last chimp-human common ancestor lived is a central and highly debated issue in palaeoanthropology. Researchers have assumed up to now that the lineages diverged five to seven million years ago and that the first pre-humans developed in Africa. According to the 1994 theory of French palaeoanthropologist Yves Coppens, climate change in Eastern Africa could have played a crucial role. The two studies of the research team from Germany, Bulgaria, Greece, Canada, France and Australia now outline a new scenario for the beginning of human history.

The lower jaw of the 7.175 million year old Graecopithecus freybergi (El Graeco) from Pyrgos Vassilissis, Greece (today in metropolitan Athens). Credit: Wolfgang Gerber, University of Tübingen

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A 7.24 million year old upper premolar of Graecopithecus from Azmaka, Bulgaria. Credit: Wolfgang Gerber, University of Tübingen

The lower jaw, nicknamed 'El Graeco' by the scientists, has additional dental root features, suggesting that the species Graecopithecus freybergi might belong to the pre-human lineage. "We were surprised by our results, as pre-humans were previously known only from sub-Saharan Africa," said Jochen Fuss, a Tübingen PhD student who conducted this part of the study.

Furthermore, Graecopithecus is several hundred thousand years older than the oldest potential pre-human from Africa, the six to seven million year old Sahelanthropus from Chad. The research team dated the sedimentary sequence of the Graecopithecus fossil sites in Greece and Bulgaria with physical methods and got a nearly synchronous age for both fossils - 7.24 and 7.175 million years before present. "It is at the beginning of the Messinian, an age that ends with the complete desiccation of the Mediterranean Sea," Böhme said.

Professor David Begun, a University of Toronto paleoanthropologist and co-author of this study, added, "This dating allows us to move the human-chimpanzee split into the Mediterranean area."

Since I'm coming from the Balkans area and I follow our local Archaeology News sites, just wanted to share these findings with you guys.
The history of mankind is so fascinating and full of mysteries, I just love to read when I have a little free time...

Link to the full article >
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a reply to: iasenko

All lies, the Earth is only 6000 years old!


*Interesting topic, nice one

a reply to: iasenko
I believe it, we used to probably hang out with dinosaurs. Orcs and elves and sprites and # were probably the advanced humanoid descendants to . Time is a very long time. Even just a couple thousand years history is lost and reinterpreted. Words and images tell vastly different stories across the globe, but many share common origins, milestones, and cataclysms.

I believe the architect myself. He can function as God with the right interpretation, or as giant simulator existence guy. Either way, it seems to be simply an illustration of a familiar existence when applied through the universal language of mathematics!!

Eternity baby, where will you recycle us next??

a reply to: InceyWincey

My thoughts exactly lol.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

Though we didn't hang with dinosaurs lol, I bet it absolutely looked like middle earth with a dozen different hominid species running around and all the pre ice age mega fauna.

So does this mean that humans sprang up naturally all over or did we just find mans true ancestors? Did say Africans evolve from whites or the other way around? If they did....will science ever admit to it on an academic level? Especially given the current climate of race relations?

a reply to: iasenko

Since I'm coming from the Balkans area and I follow our local Archaeology News sites, just wanted to share these findings with you guys.
The history of mankind is so fascinating and full of mysteries, I just love to read when I have a little free time...

Thanks for bringing this to us!
I think there's much more to be found and our own backstory as humans is still waiting to be discovered. (in it's entirety)

originally posted by: InceyWincey
a reply to: iasenko

All lies, the Earth is only 6000 years old!

*Interesting topic, nice one

Another 6,000 year old earth troll trying to start an argument with the creationists. Never fails in these fossil threads.

a reply to: iasenko

Very important nitpick: these are not human remains. They are the remains of apes that were ancestral to humans.

Hence pithecus in their scientific names. It means ‘ape’.

a reply to: iasenko

Quote from your OP

"suggesting that the species Graecopithecus freybergi might belong to the pre-human lineage"

a reply to: Oathkeeper73

I doubt they would use the word "evolve" they would probably use "adapted"

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

I was teasing, I thought the emoticon made it obvious, I'll post a disclaimer next time, sheesh.

You mean the earth isn't 6 thousand years old, please explain how you came to this rediculous conclusion ?




Lol a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

Hey, this is actually found one of the cases where scientists find a random partial jawbone and then extrapolate an entirely new evolutionary timeline from it! I love these stories! Reminds me of the star child skull.

It's really hard to imagine this timeline. I mean that is a ridiculous amount of time! Does anyone know any bit of the truth? What if all the folk tales are not tales but truth? Honestly this makes the story of Jesus just not seem truly believable. Don't get me wrong, I believe in Jesus and God but I'm not sure I believe the way the church relays that message to us. How many other of God's children have visited us if that is the case?

Anyways just some random thoughts lol. Nice thread OP!

originally posted by: Oathkeeper73
So does this mean that humans sprang up naturally all over or did we just find mans true ancestors?

Either is possible. In my opinion though, it's unlikely this is man's true ancestor. My reasoning is based on the amount of time it took for humans to migrate just around the entire continent of Africa, and also how long it took them to migrate out of Africa. In contrast, with this specimen being only a few hundred thousand years older, I find it hard to believe this species could've migrated to Africa in that short amount of time and then the African human line that we're already aware of evolved from them. I just don't see that as likely. It's possible humans did evolve in several places throughout the world, but genetics has shown that all living humans are descended from the ones that evolved in Africa, so that species likely drove the others to extinction. I should note I'm no expert, this is merely my opinion based on my understanding.

Fascinating info either way. Thanks OP!

a reply to: iasenko

Very nice find! We don't have a lot of data on prehumans this old.

(for those of you wondering, this is an ancestor of the human race and would have looked rather apelike to your eyes. Yes, you can tell it's in the human lineage by the molars (jaw teeth.) Humans and their ancestors have a certain shape to the "valleys" in the molars that's unique to them.

originally posted by: Oathkeeper73
So does this mean that humans sprang up naturally all over or did we just find mans true ancestors? Did say Africans evolve from whites or the other way around? If they did....will science ever admit to it on an academic level? Especially given the current climate of race relations?

They aren't from "all over" - the human lineage is only from Europe/Africa so far.

The gene for white skin is only 8000 years old or so - far younger than 7 million years.

"Race" is a political term. At one time the Irish were not considered to be "white." Race has meaning only in social and cultural and forensic studies - otherwise it's about as significant as the differences between my black cat and a tabby cat walking down the street.

a reply to: Byrd

I get what you're saying, but let's not paint with too broad a brush. Race is not only a social/political construct. It does have some scientific basis, that's how they can determine your lineage based on your DNA. And there are demonstrable physical differences between the races in the medical arena. For example some races are more susceptible to certain diseases than others. We are probably hundreds of generations away from being able to completely disregard the concept of race.

who would say.... perhaps one billion years ago there was a high intelligent lifeform on earth.....