Category Archives: AFRICA

AFRICA, WORLD

Researchers Discover a 2 billion-year-old nuclear reactor in Africa

Researchers Discover a 2 billion-year-old nuclear reactor in Africa

In June 1972, nuclear scientists at the Pierrelatte uranium enrichment plant in south-east France noticed a strange deficit in the amount of uranium-235 they were processing. That’s a serious problem in a uranium enrichment plant where every gram of fissionable material has to be carefully accounted for.

The problem lay in the ratio of uranium isotopes in their samples. Natural uranium contains three isotopes, always in the same ratios: uranium-238 (99.2744 percent), uranium-235 (0.7202 percent), and uranium-234 (0.0054 percent).

The problem was with the uranium-235 of which there was only 0.600 percent. Physicists soon traced the anomaly to the supply of uranium ore from Gabon in West Africa, which contained far less uranium-235 than the ore from anywhere else on the planet, a problem that caused some consternation among nuclear scientists.

So France’s top nuclear scientists began an investigation and, in the process, made one of the more remarkable discoveries in recent history. This kind of depleted uranium is only found inside nuclear reactors, which burn uranium-235. That set off a hunt for a reactor that could have produced this stuff.

On 25 September 1972, they announced that the depleted uranium had come from Gabon where nuclear scientists had discovered a 2 billion-year-old nuclear reactor at the site of the Oklo uranium mines near a town called Franceville. This was a naturally occurring deposit of uranium where the concentration of uranium-235 had been high enough to trigger a self-sustaining nuclear reaction.

Today, say Edward Davis at Kuwait University and a couple of pals who review the scientific history of the discovery at Oklo, one of the most extraordinary natural phenomena on the planet.

Since its discovery, the Oklo reactor has been a significant driver of important research in nuclear physics. In particular, physicists have used it to study how buried nuclear waste might spread through the environment. And since the reactor began operating some 2 billion years ago, they’ve also used it to study how the universe’s fundamental constants may have changed during that time.

But the first puzzle that physicists had to deal with in 1972 was how a naturally-occurring reactor could work at all. Nuclear scientists well know that reactors do not work with natural uranium because the level of uranium-235 is too low at only 0.7202 percent. Instead, the uranium-235 has to be enriched so that it is about 3.5 percent of the total. So how did so much end up at Oklo?

The Oklo Uranium mine in Gabon. Credit: European Nuclear Organisation

The answer to this puzzle is that uranium-235 has a shorter half-life than other uranium isotopes and so would have been present in much higher quantities in the Earth’s distant past. When the Solar System was created, for example, about 17 percent of uranium would have been the 235 isotopes. That percentage has fallen steadily since then.

When the ore in Gabon was laid down some 2 billion years ago, the concentration of uranium-235 would have been about 4 percent, more than enough for a self-sustaining nuclear reaction. The idea is that when a neutron hits an atom of uranium-235, the atom splits producing two smaller nuclei and several neutrons. These neutrons go on to split other atoms in an ongoing chain reaction.

However, the liberated neutrons are high-energy particles that tend to fly away rapidly. So nuclear reactors usually contain a moderating material that slows down the neutrons so that they can interact with other uranium atoms. It turns out that water is a reasonable neutron moderator. So an important component of this natural reactor was the presence of water seeping through the uranium ore. And this had an interesting impact on the way the reactors operated.

Nuclear scientists believe that the Oklo reactors operated in pulses. As water flowed into the rock, it moderated the neutrons, allowing a chain reaction to occur. But this increased the temperature of the rock, boiling the water into steam which escaped. When this happened, the neutrons were no longer able to interact with and split uranium nuclei, and the chain reaction stopped. The rock then cooled allowing water to flow back in.

So the Oklo reactors operated in pulses. Today, nuclear scientists have calculated that the chain reaction probably lasted for 30 minutes and then switched off for about 2.5 hours, a pulsing process that continued for about 300,000 years. While they were on, the reactors were powerful devices. “The reactors likely operated under conditions similar to present-day pressurized water reactor systems, with pressures about 150 atmospheres and temperatures of about 300 degrees C,” said Davis and co.

French nuclear scientists carried out a detailed survey of the Oklo site, discovering not just one reactor zone but up to 17 of them over an area of several tens of square kilometers. Some of these were close to the surface and so had been influenced by weathering processes, while others were at depths of up to 400 meters and were more or less pristine.

In addition to the depleted uranium-235, these zones contained numerous fission fragments such as isotopes of zirconium, yttrium, neodymium, and cerium. The unusual ratios of these isotopes were an important indicator of what had gone on there almost 2 billion years earlier.

The presence of these fission by-products immediately piqued the interest of nuclear scientists, particularly in the US. Perhaps the biggest challenge facing the nuclear industry is to find a way to deal with the highly radioactive waste that reactors produce. One idea is to bury it but that raises the question of what would happen to this waste over the millions of years during which it remains toxic.

The Oklo reactors were a natural test of this question. So US scientists, in particular, began a program to measure the way in which different fission products migrated away from the reactor zones. “One of the most important, and surprising, early findings was that uranium and most of the rare earth elements did not experience significant mobilization in the past two billion years,” said Davis and co. “Because the wastes were contained successfully in Oklo, it appears not unrealistic to hope that long term disposal in specially selected and engineered geological repositories can be successful.”

This evidence has since become one of the main arguments in favor of nuclear waste repositories such as the one planned at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Oklo has also become the focus of physicists studying the possibility that the universe’s fundamental constants may have changed over time. The reason that Oklo may be able to help is that it stopped operating over 1.5 billion years ago. So the nuclear processes that occurred at that time must’ve been governed by the fundamental constants as they were then.

In particular, physicists are interested in the fine structure constant which determines the strength of the electromagnetic interaction. This in turn determines the way neutrons are absorbed in chain reactions and consequently the yields of different fission products.

The focus of most research has been on the amount of samarium-149 produced by these natural reactors. The data places bounds on how much the constant may have changed in the past. The consensus is that the data is consistent with the fine structure constant being actually constant although it doesn’t rule out tiny changes. Davis and co point out that the Oklo data can also constrain changes in other constants, such as the ratio of light quark masses to the proton mass. To date, this work is consistent with these constants being constant.

The Oklo story ends with a damp squib. After a period of intense interest in the early 1970s, mining continued at Oklo, and eventually, all the natural reactors were mined out. The one exception was a shallow reactor zone at a place called Bangombé, some 30 kilometers from Oklo, although this has largely been washed out by groundwater.

So these zones have been largely lost to science. That’s a shame. It also means that nuclear scientists are unlikely to get better data on natural nuclear reactors using advanced techniques than those available in the 1970s. No other natural reactors have been discovered anywhere on Earth, making Oklo unique. At least for the moment.

AFRICA, EGYPT, WORLD

5,450 years old Egyptian knife known as Gebel el-Arak, made with an Ivory handle

5,450 years old Egyptian knife known as Gebel el-Arak, made with an Ivory handle

This unique dagger from the late predynastic period consists of a light silex blade, sculpted using a highly sophisticated technique, and an ivory handle featuring carved bas-relief scenes. It is one of the oldest known examples of bas-relief sculpture.

The themes come from Nilotic as well as Mesopotamian traditions: animals, the hunt, lions overwhelmed by a figure, boats, and human combats.

A luxury object

Everything in this weapon illustrates luxury and technical expertise. The blade, made of extremely high-quality, light ocher slate, reflects an accomplished mastery of stone-cutting techniques. Parallel strips were removed on one side to form a regular pattern.

The other side of the blade is simply polished. Small areas were reworked to form a sharp serrated edge. Egyptian craftsmen used this meticulous technique for a short period only, between 3500 and 3200 BC.

This is the most accomplished example of the silex tool-making technique. Analyses of the handle determined that it is made of a hippopotamus tooth.

Only a small number of ivory dagger handles of this type, decorated with relief carving, exist. These were exceptional works, reserved to an elite.

Detail of warfare depicted on the Gebel el-Arak knife.

Men and animals

Detail of the battle and animal scenes on the Gebel el-Arak Knife.
One side of the richly carved ivory handle displays apparent hunting scenes filled with animals.

The blade is set into a carved hippopotamus tooth and has a central knob with a hole for attaching a cord. On one side is a bearded figure wearing a cap, standing between and subduing two lions. Below are two domesticated dogs and wild animals; a hunter seems to be catching an antelope.

Ripple-flaked side and polished side of the Gebel el-Arak Knife.

The other side depicts combats arranged in several registers. At the top are quasi-nude men wearing penis sheaths, in hand-to-hand combat. At the bottom, dead bodies are strewn between two different types of boats, both in use in Egypt during the Naqada period.

A key work

Animal life, hunting, and boating on the Nile are ancient themes that had already appeared on ceramics and paintings during the Naqada Period.

The bas-relief carving that appeared at this time on large contemporaneous palettes depicted more dynamic and less static scenes than images on earlier traditional ceramic pieces.

Furthermore, the battle theme appeared toward the end of this period, which is why researchers have tried to find a narrative link to historical events.

Today they are interpreted more as referential images, a catalogue of themes that were important to the ruling class during a period when the Egyptian state was taking shape.

As is often the case, certain motifs are variations of those from the contemporaneous Mesopotamian culture, such as the bearded figure of the priest-king (AO5718, AO5719) and the “Master of Animals” figure subduing two beasts. Direct or indirect contacts certainly existed between the two civilizations.

The design of superimposed registers and the conventions used to represent the human figure were used throughout the entire pharaonic period. This object illustrates the shift from the late predynastic period to the birth of the pharaonic civilization.

AFRICA, SOUTH AMERICA, WORLD

3-Billion-Year-Old Spheres Found in South Africa: How Were They Made?

3-Billion-Year-Old Spheres Found in South Africa: How Were They Made?

In the small town of Ottosdal, in central North West Province of South Africa, miners working in pyrophyllite mines have been digging up mysterious metal spheres known as Klerksdorp Spheres.

This dark reddish-brown, somewhat flattened spheres range in size from less than a centimetre to ten centimetres across, and some of them have three parallel grooves running around the equator.

The most striking examples have the uncanny appearance of being something manufactured.  But here is the kicker — these metallic objects have been dated to 3 billion years old, a time when the Earth was too young to host intelligent life capable of creating these spheres.

No wonder, these objects have attracted attention and speculation from not only the scientific community but various fringe groups including creationists and advocates of “ancient astronauts theory”.

Klerksdorp Spheres are often classified as “Out-of-Place Artifacts”, a term coined by an American naturalist and cryptozoologist to indicate objects of historical, archaeological, or paleontological interest found in a very unusual or seemingly impossible context that could challenge conventional historical chronology by being “too advanced” for the level of civilization that existed at the time.

These objects claim to provide evidences that suggest the presence of intelligent beings well before humans were supposed to exist. Klerksdorp Spheres, however, aren’t out-of-place. Neither they are mysterious.

These spheres are actually concretion formed by the precipitation of volcanic sediments, ash, or both after they accumulated 3 billion years ago. Concretions are often ovoid or spherical in shape because of which they are commonly mistaken to be dinosaur eggs, or extraterrestrial debris or human artefacts, in this case.

Examples of calcareous concretions, which exhibit equatorial grooves, found in Schoharie County, New York.

The latitudinal ridges and grooves exhibited by Klerksdorp Spheres are also natural and are known to occur in concretions found elsewhere on earth.

Notable examples include “Moqui marbles” found within the Navajo Sandstone of southern Utah and carbonate concretions found in Schoharie County, New York. Similar concretion as old as 2.8 billion years were also found in Hamersley Group of Australia.

Many false claims have been made regarding these objects. An often-repeated claim is that testing by NASA found the spheres to be so precisely balanced that they could have only been made in zero-gravity.

Not only there is no record of NASA ever saying that the objects aren’t spherical at all as evident from these images.

Another claim is that the spheres are manufactured of a metal “harder than steel”, a statement which is rather meaningless as steel can vary in hardness depending on the type of alloy and treatment.

Specimens of Klerksdorp Spheres are housed in Klerksdorp Museum in Klerksdorp, a city about 70 km away from Ottosdal.

Moqui Marbles, hematite concretions, from the Navajo Sandstone of southeast Utah show similar grooves and shape.
Moeraki Boulders in New Zealand is another example of spherical concretion.
AFRICA, SUDAN, WORLD

The lost city in the sands: Inside the ancient citadel of the Black Pharaoh’s which has pyramids to rival Egypt

The lost city in the sands: Inside the ancient citadel of the Black Pharaoh’s which has pyramids to rival Egypt.

This is the lost city of Meroë in Sudan, with beautifully maintained pyramids as impressive as their more famous counterparts in Egypt.  However, unlike the famed pyramids of Giza, the Sudanese site is largely deserted.

The pyramids at Meroë, some 125 miles north of Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, are rarely visited despite being a Unesco World Heritage site.

Sanctions against the government of longtime President Omar al-Bashir over Sudan’s long-running internal conflicts limit its access to foreign aid and donations, while also hampering tourism.

The pyramids bear decorative elements inspired by Pharaonic Egypt, Greece and Rome, according to UNESCO, making them priceless relics, Unlike their more famous counterparts in Giza, Egypt, the Sudanese site is largely deserted and visited by very few tourists each year.

The site, known as the Island of Meroë because an ancient, long-dried river ran around it, once served as the principal residence of the rulers of the Kush kingdom – one of the earliest civilizations in the Nile region – and known as the Black Pharaohs.

Their pyramids, ranging from 20 feet to 100 feet tall, were built between 720 and 300 B.C. The entrances usually face east to greet the rising sun.

‘Egypt doesn’t have the monopoly on pyramids,’ said Eric Lafforgue, a photographer who travels the world documenting tribes. 

‘Sudan has many of them and discovers new ones regularly. The most beautiful and impressive pyramids form the Meroë Necropolis.’

The Unesco World Heritage website describes the site as: ‘The heartland of the Kingdom of Kush, a major power from the 8th century B.C. to the 4th century A.D.’

It explains that the property consists of the royal city of the Kushite kings at Meroe and the nearby religious site of Naqa and Musawwarat es Sufra.  

Meroë and others bear the marks of more recent history, with many marked out by their flat tops – the result of being dynamited by Italian explorer Giuseppe Ferlini, who is 1834, came and pillaged the site. 

The pyramids bear decorative elements inspired by Pharaonic Egypt, Greece, and Rome, according to Unesco, making them priceless relics. 

However, overeager archaeologists in the 19th century tore off the golden tips of some pyramids and reduced some to rubble, according to Abdel-Rahman Omar, the head of the National Museum of Sudan in Khartoum.

Tourists are few and far between in the forgotten pyramid village of Meroë in Sudan, with around 15,000 visiting a year
The ruins of a kiosk discovered in Naga, a religious site near to the ancient Kush city of Meroe, where the rulers were one of the earliest civilisations in the Nile region
Naga, where this sculpture of a ram was one of many discovered dating back to the first century B.C., forms part of the Unesco world heritage site with Meroe and religious site Musawwarat es Sufra

On a recent day, locals reported just a few tourists and white camels roaming the site, watched by a handful of security guards. 

Sudan’s tourism industry has been devastated by economic sanctions imposed over the conflicts in Darfur and other regions. 

Al-Bashir’s government, which came to power following a bloodless Islamist coup in 1989, has struggled to care for its antiquities.

Qatar has pledged $135 million to renovate and support Sudan’s antiquities in the last few years. But Mr Omar said Sudan still receives just 15,000 tourists per year. 

AFRICA, WORLD

Using Ancient Farming Technique, an African Man Who Stopped a Desert

Using Ancient Farming Technique, an African Man Who Stopped a Desert

Yacouba Sawadogo, a farmer from Burkina Faso, stopped desertification in his village by working together with his family to plant trees that have now grown into a vast forest. This in response to a long dry spell that, coupled with over-farming, over-grazing and over-population were plaguing the northern part of the country.

Initially, farmers in his community ridiculed him and thought he was going mad.

Reviving the forest with ancient techniques

With no access to modern tools and lack of education, he started using an ancient African farming practice called Zai, which leads to forest growth and improved soil quality.

Yacouba Sawadogo, the farmer from Burkina Faso who stopped the advance of desertification by reviving the forest using the ancient African practice of Zai

Gradually, the barren land was transformed into a forty-hectare forest containing over 96 tree and 66 plant species, many of which edible and medicinal, as well as a number of animals.

“Thomas Sankara (who was President of Burkina Faso between 1983 and 1987, editor’s note) launched an appeal to develop initiatives to stop the advancement of the desert – Sawadogo recounts – and when he came to see my work, he asked me what technique I was using and I told him it was Zai. That’s why I’m also known as Yacoub Zai”.

Two Farming Techniques

Zaï is a farming technique that has been used traditionally in the western part of the Sahel, which includes Burkina Faso. In essence, this technique involves the digging of holes in the soil that is not very permeable, so that runoff can be collected.

These holes have a depth that ranges from 5 to 15 cm (1.97-5.91 inches), and a diameter of between 15 and 50 cm (5.91-19.69 inches). Fertilizers or compost may be placed in the holes to increase the number of nutrients in the soil.

Crops may then be planted in these holes. The advantages of this technique are many. For instance, this is a simple and cheap technique that may be utilized by any farmer. It is, however, a labor-intensive technique, and therefore, the cost is higher in terms of manpower. In addition, farmers need to monitor and maintain their Zaï holes. Nevertheless, the efficacy of Zaï is evident, as its use has resulted in increased crop yield.

Another traditional technique employed by Sawadogo is known as cordons pierreux. Like Zaï, this technique is aimed at using runoff to combat desertification. Whilst the Zaï holes collect runoff, the cordons pierreux prevent the runoff from going to waste by slowing its flow.

This technique uses small blocks of rubble or stones that are arranged in a thin line across the field, which slows down the flow of runoff, thus allowing more time for the water to penetrate the earth.

Zaï farming technique.

The Man Who Stopped the Desert, the documentary

After embarking on such ground-breaking work in the semi-arid African desert, Sawadogo was featured in a 2010 documentary, The Man Who Stopped the Desert, becoming famous around the world.

In addition, he has conferred the Right Livelihood Award, widely known as the “alternative Nobel Prize” in 2018, “for turning barren land into forest and demonstrating how farmers can regenerate their soil with innovative use of indigenous and local knowledge”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOIWJFzx68E
The Man Who Stopped The Desert (documentary)

Partners coming on board

The technique he utilizes, Zai, has also spread to neighboring Mali, and he teaches it to the many people who come to learn from him.

“I want to design a training program that will be the starting point for many fruitful exchanges across the region and there are so many farmers from neighboring villages that visit me for advice on good quality seeds to plant,” Sawadogo says. “I’ve chosen not to keep my farming methods as secrets to myself”.

Even the Centre on International Cooperation (CIC), a foreign policy think tank based in New York University, proposes to encourage millions of Western African farmers to invest in trees.

This will help them improve their food security and climate change adaptation, according to natural resources management specialist Chris Reji.

Threats to the forest haven’t stopped hope

Today, Sawadogo is facing serious problems from several quarters. Northern Burkina Faso has become increasingly volatile due to incursions by jihadist groups and inter-communal conflict, which have brought insurgent attacks and social unrest.

An expansion project in the area has taken up a considerable portion of the forest he spent years growing: homes have been built on his land, with little compensation being offered. In addition, the entire family is on guard to protect the area from people wanting to steal wood.

However, the farmer’s message about the future of the environment and conservation remains profound. “If you cut down ten trees a day and fail to plant even once a year, we’re headed for destruction”.

AFRICA, EGYPT, WORLD

Archaeologists believe they have found Cleopatra’s tomb

Archaeologists believe they have found Cleopatra’s tomb

One of history’s most famous love stories may finally be getting its ending — after more than 2,000 years. Archaeologists have teased a key breakthrough in finding Egyptian Queen Cleopatra’s final resting place — a hidden tomb where she is assumed to have been buried with ill-fated lover Mark Antony after their suicides.

The discovery was made during a “meticulous” dig in Taposiris Magna, a temple “honeycombed with hidden passages and tombs” on Egypt’s Nile delta, according to the Science Channel.

The scientists uncovered an “undisturbed tomb decorated in gold leaf” that a new documentary suggests “could be the answer to the 2,000-year-old mystery of Cleopatra’s final resting place” in 30 B.C.

Archaeologists digging at Taposiris Magna, where they believe the tomb of Cleopatra to be.

“Their findings revolutionize our understanding of who she was and how she lived,” claimed the channel of the findings to be revealed in a two-hour special, “Cleopatra: Sex, Lies, and Secrets,”

The show follows the team led by Dr. Kathleen Martinez, who describes herself as a “Dominican archaeologist in search of Cleopatra” and has teased numerous breakthroughs on social media.

Sally-Ann Ashton admires one of the statues of Cleopatra at the launch of a new exhibition at The British Museum in London.

Cleopatra was the last queen of Egypt — having been crowned at just 18 — and is one of history’s most famous female rulers.

Yet she is “synonymous with seduction, beauty, and scandal,” the Science Channel noted, calling her “an icon of popular culture and one of the most elusive yet significant female figures in history.”

As well as the history books, her story is the subject of one of William Shakespeare’s greatest works, “Antony and Cleopatra,” as well as one of Elizabeth Taylor’s most iconic big-screen performances, with 1963’s “Cleopatra,” the most expensive movie of its age.

Even before her tragic love-story with Antony, she had a string of historic flings — having married and had a son with Roman Emperor Julius Caesar, according to History.com.

After Caesar was murdered in 44 B.C., Cleopatra went back to Egypt but was summoned to meet Roman general Antony to explain any role she may have had in the assassination.

She supposedly arrived on a golden barge rowed by silver oars, made to look like the goddess Aphrodite as she sat beneath a gilded canopy fanned by staff dressed as cupid, according to folklore.

Antony was instantly seduced, leading to three children — and the pair’s ultimate downfall.

Antony had been forced to prove his loyalty to Caesar’s successor as Roman Emperor, Octavian, by marrying his half-sister, Octavia — but soon dumped her to return to Cleopatra in Egypt, History says.

It sparked a war, which Octavian’s forces easily won in the Battle of Actium.

Antony famously fell on his sword when told his lover had killed herself — dying just as news arrived that it was not true.

Roman troops soon captured Cleopatra, and Octavian wanted to keep her alive to display her as a prize during a victory parade, according to llis Roxburgh, the author of “Cleopatra vs. the Roman Empire.”

Refusing to be used, Cleopatra killed herself — and is widely assumed to have done so by letting a snake poison her.

Dead at 39, she is believed to have been buried with her lover — sparking the more than 2,000-year mystery over the exact location of their tomb.

AFRICA, EGYPT, WORLD

Skeleton of Teen Girl Found Buried Next to Mysterious Pyramid in Egypt

Skeleton of Teen Girl Found Buried Next to Mysterious Pyramid in Egypt

Egyptian archaeologists excavating the ruins of a pyramid 60 miles outside of Cairo have discovered the skeletal remains of a 13-year-old girl huddled inside a tomb.

Exactly how or when she died is a mystery, though the experts say the site itself dates back to the end of the Third Dynasty roughly 4,600 years ago.

The tomb was empty apart from the skeleton, which was buried in the squatting position, but the team also found two animal skulls and three ceramic vessels nearby that were likely placed as funerary offerings.

At least part of the Meidum pyramid, located south of Cairo in Egypt, was built for the pharaoh Snefru.

The skull offerings appear to have come from bulls, according to Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities.

Researchers came across the burial during work on the partially-collapsed Meidum pyramid, where the team is excavating a cemetery built near the end of the Third Dynasty.

It’s thought that construction on the Meidum period began at the command of the Third Dynasty’s last pharaoh, Huni, and was continued by Sneferu, the first pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty.

Previous efforts at the site uncovered the tomb of Prince Nefar-Maat, Sneferu’s oldest son.

While the newly-discovered bones indicate the remains belong to a girl who was around 13 years old when she died, much about the burial and the offerings are still unclear.

Skeleton of Teen Girl Found Buried Next to Mysterious Pyramid in Egypt
The skeleton of a 13-year-old girl was discovered in a cemetery next to a 4,600-year-old pyramid in Egypt.

Researchers do not know the identity of the buried teenager.

The latest burial was found surrounded by a partially intact brick wall, and the team is now working to restore and reinforce the structures.

Elsewhere, in the Sinai Peninsula, the Antiquities Ministry says it discovered an ancient workshop that was used to build and repair ships thousands of years ago.

The site dates back to the Ptolemaic era (332 B.C.-30 B.C) and was found during excavations in the Tel Abu Saifi archaeological site, which is said to have once been the location of the Roman fortress Silla.

The find includes two dry dockyards where the ancient ships were worked on.

Researchers say it dates to the Greco-Roman period in Egypt, which lasted from the arrival of Alexander the Great in the 4th century until the 7th century when the Islamic conquest swept the region.

AFRICA, EUROPE, WORLD

7.2 million-year-old Pre-human fossil suggests mankind arose in Europe, not Africa

7.2 million-year-old Pre-human fossil suggests mankind arose in Europe, not Africa

The human lineage separated from that of apes about 7 million years ago in Africa, according to the widely agreed narrative of human evolution. Hominins (early humans) are thought to have lived in Africa until they first spread to Asia and then to Europe around 2 million years ago.

A mix of hominid (genus Homo) depictions; (from right to left) H. habilis, H. ergaster, H. erectus; H. antecessor – male, female, H. heidelbergensis; H. neanderthalensis – girl, male, H. sapiens.

Today, the narrative is being updated by a team of scientists from the University of Tubingen in Germany and the University of Toronto in Canada. They claim that the oldest human ancestor originated in Europe, not Africa, about 7.2 million years ago, about 200,000 years older than previously believed, in two parallel research published in the journal PLOS One.

The researchers base their bold hypothesis largely on the analysis of two fossils: a mandible (lower jaw) found in Greece in 1944 and an upper premolar tooth found in Bulgaria in 2009.

7.2 million-year-old Pre-human fossil suggests mankind arose in Europe, not Africa

The fossils belonged to an ape-like creature known as Graecopithecus freybergi (“El Graeco,” for short), which roamed the Mediterranean region between 7.18 and 7.25 million years ago.

Though the fossilized jawbone from Greece has been around a while, most scientists had dismissed it as a source of good information due to its poor condition. “It’s not the best specimen in the world,” David Begun of the University of Toronto, who co-authored the new research, told HISTORY.

“It has a lot of damage to the surface of the jawbone itself and a lot of damage to the teeth, so they’re really hard to see, they’re difficult to measure, and it’s hard to say what they look like.” But when Begun’s colleague, Madelaine Böhme, had the idea of using computer tomography, or CT-scanning, to look inside the mandible, things got more interesting.

A 7.24 million-year-old upper premolar of Graecopithecus from Azmaka, Bulgaria.
Root morphology in P4 of cf. Graecopithecus sp. and O. macedoniensis.

“We saw that the roots of the teeth embedded in the mandible were perfectly preserved…and they gave us a lot of new information that we never had about this specimen,” Begun said. “The canine root is quite short and slender and indicates that the canine was small. That’s really important, because in apes—and male apes in particular—the canine is quite large.” This holds true for most male primates, Begun explained, but not all. “This root shows that the canine was already reduced, which is a characteristic that you only see in humans and our fossil relatives.”

In addition, analysis of the two fossils showed that some of the roots of the bicuspid teeth of Graecopithecus—what we call the premolars—had simplified, or fused to form fewer roots. “That is again something that you only see in humans and our fossil relatives. It is extremely rare to find it in living apes, and you don’t see it in any fossil apes from the same time period,” Begun noted.

In the second, complementary study based on sediment in Greece and Bulgaria from that time, Begun and his colleagues found that the climate during the period El Graeco lived there would have been similar to the dry savannahs known to have encouraged the shift to bipedalism that marked early hominin evolution. In fact, it would have been highly similar to the climate of eastern Africa.

Head sketch is by Assen Ignatov of the Bulgarian National Museum of Natural History.

If Graecopithecus is in fact a hominin, it would slightly predate the earliest known human ancestor found in Africa, Sahelanthropus tchadensis. Discovered at a site in Chad, Sahelanthropus is believed to be between 6 and 7 million years old.

Begun emphasized that the new hypothesis doesn’t affect the later story of modern humans and their emergence from Africa. “That story is completely intact,” he told HISTORY. “This is about what happened millions and millions of years before that when the human lineage in its entirety arose.”

Some other experts in human evolution are skeptical of Graecopithecus’ newly anointed status as the earliest known hominin. In particular, they question the claim that the jawbone and tooth shape alone establish its pre-human status.

“We just don’t have enough evidence to come to that conclusion,” Bernard Wood of George Washington University, who was not involved with the new study, told HISTORY. “It’s perfectly possible that one or more fossil apes have roots like that.”

As he pointed out, it’s not uncommon for primates to evolve the same morphological traits or features independently from each other. “If you asked me, how much would I be prepared to bet that this is a hominin,” Wood continued, “you’d have to persuade me to put more than a quarter on [it].”

Begun acknowledges the possibility that El Graeco’s tooth shape and size may have occurred independently from early humans and admitted he would like to have more and better-preserved fossil evidence supporting the new hypothesis. Still, he stands behind his and his colleague’s conclusions about Graecopithecus, based on the fossil evidence they do have—and he believes there is likely more out there.

“I think there’s a pretty good chance that we’ll find new sites in the next few years. We might get lucky, and find some more, better-preserved teeth, and especially limb bones, that could help to answer this question more definitively.”