A new ape fossil discovered at an 8.7 million year old site in Türkiye is questioning long accepted beliefs about human origins and lending credence to the theory that African apes and humans evolved in Anatolia before moving to Africa between nine and seven million years ago.
With the support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Türkiye, a newly identified ape named ‘Anadoluvius Turkae’ was recovered from the Çorakyerler fossil locality near Çankırı. Analysis of this ape’s remains has revealed that it is a diverse member of the first known radiation of early hominines, which includes the African apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas), humans, and their fossil ancestors.
The findings are described in a study published in Communications Biology co-authored by an international team of researchers led by Professor David Begun at the University of Toronto (U of T) and Professor Ayla Sevim Erol at Ankara University.
“Our findings further suggest that hominines not only evolved in western and central Europe but spent over five million years evolving there and spreading to the eastern Mediterranean before eventually dispersing into Africa, probably as a consequence of changing environments and diminishing forests. The members of this radiation to which Anadoluvius belongs are currently only identified in Europe and Anatolia.” said Begun.
“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. The face is mostly complete, after applying mirror imaging. The new part is the forehead, with bone preserved to about the crown of the cranium. Previously described fossils do not have this much of the brain case.”
According to the researchers, Anadoluvius lived in a dry woodland environment, was around the size of a giant male chimpanzee (50-60 kg), was unusually huge for a chimp, and was close to the typical size of a female gorilla (75-80 kg), and probably spent a lot of time on the ground.
“We have no limb bones but judging from its jaws and teeth, the animals found alongside it, and the geological indicators of the environment, Anadoluvius probably lived in relatively open conditions, unlike the forest settings of living great apes. More like what we think the environments of early humans in Africa were like. The powerful jaws and large, thickly enameled teeth suggest a diet including hard food items from terrestrial sources such as roots and rhizomes.” said Sevim Erol.
The species that coexisted with Anadoluvius included those that are now typically seen in African grasslands and dry woodlands, including giraffes, wart hogs, rhinos, various antelope, zebras, elephants, porcupines, hyaenas, and carnivorous mammals that resemble lions. According to research, the biological community appears to have moved from the eastern Mediterranean into Africa sometime after eight million years ago.
“The founding of the modern African open country fauna from the eastern Mediterranean has long been known and now we can add to the list of entrants the ancestors of the African apes and humans,” said Sevim Erol.
Briefly, according to the research, Anadoluvius turkae sprang from the same evolutionary branch of the tree as chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and humans. As the best preserved specimens, the new ape fossil provide the strongest evidence to date for an early hominin group that emerged in Anatolia before dispersing into Africa.
Cover Photo: A new face and partial brain case of Anadoluvius turkae from the Çorakyerler fossil site located in Central Anatolia, Türkiye. Ankara University and University of Toronto