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+--- Thread: Distant human origins in Mediterranean rather than Africa? + Origin of human spine (/thread-3697.html)
Distant human origins in Mediterranean rather than Africa? + Origin of human spine - C C - May 23, 2017
Fossils cast doubt on human lineage originating in Africa
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN18I2HX
EXCERPT: Fossils from Greece and Bulgaria of an ape-like creature that lived 7.2 million years ago may fundamentally alter the understanding of human origins, casting doubt on the view that the evolutionary lineage that led to people arose in Africa. Scientists said on Monday the creature, known as Graecopithecus freybergi and known only from a lower jawbone and an isolated tooth, may be the oldest-known member of the human lineage that began after an evolutionary split from the line that led to chimpanzees, our closest cousins....
ALSO: http://www.mirror.co.uk/science/tooth-dating-back-millions-years-10477825
The origins of the human spine might have just been found in a 3.3-million-year-old fossil
http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-discover-the-origins-of-the-human-spine-in-a-3-3-million-year-old-fossil
EXCERPT: Recent analysis of a 3.3-million-year-old hominin fossil found back in 2000 has provided researchers with the most complete spinal column of any early human relative - and gives us a unique snapshot of a crucial transition point as our early ancestors evolved towards bipedalism.
According to the results of the analysis, key segments of the spinal structure that allowed us humans to walk upright emerged millions of years earlier than we thought, and it sheds new light on one of the "hallmarks" of human evolution....