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Evolution research: The first upright human apes came from Bavaria

2019-11-06T18:10:48.738Z


Researchers discovered a previously unknown primate species in a clay pit in the Allgäu. The find turns previous assumptions about evolution on its head.



Eleven million years ago, the Allgäu had a pleasant climate. Primeval animals roamed dense forests and river landscapes, among them turtles and horses. Even remains of hyenas researchers found in the region already.

However, one find stands out in particular: in 2015, scientists discovered the fossilized fossils of a previously unknown primate species in a creek of the "Hammerschmiede" clay pit in the Lower Allgäu.

The species named Danuvius guggenmosi lived 11.6 million years ago. And as an analysis of the remains of his skeleton shows, the newly discovered possible ancestor of man and ape could have moved on two legs almost twelve million years ago. This is suspected by a research team headed by Madelaine Böhme from the University of Tübingen and the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment there.

more on the subject

Development of the early humansHow do we come from?

"Up to now, upright walking has been an exclusive feature of humans, but Danuvius was a great ape," said Böhme. The oldest evidence to date for the upright gait is about six million years old and comes from the island of Crete and Kenya. The find from the Allgäu is several million years older.

According to a study published in the journal "Nature", today's human beings on two legs did not develop in Africa, as previously thought, because they could have come from Europe. They consider it "almost impossible" that even older upright apes exist in Africa.

"This is a glorious epoch of paleoanthropology and a paradigm shift," said Böhme. The finds fundamentally called into question the previous view of the evolution of great apes and humans. "The fact that the process of upright transition took place in Europe shakes the foundations of paleoanthropology."

From the clay pit, paleontologists hid fully preserved arm and leg bones, vertebrae, finger and toe bones - all in all 15 percent of a skeleton. "This allowed us to reconstruct how Danuvius moved on," said Böhme. "For the first time we were able to examine several functionally important joints, including elbows, hips, knees and ankles, in a single fossil skeleton of that age," the professor said. "To our astonishment, some bones resembled man more than the apes."

Hominins and hominids

Monkey and human-like

A hominid or ape is a member of the taxonomic family that includes humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and all their extinct common ancestors. The term hominins , however, includes all members of the genus Homo and their extinct relatives who are closer to the human than the chimpanzees. This does not include chimpanzees and gorillas and their ancestors.

Sahelanthropus tchadensis (7 to 8 million years)

This oldest known member of the human family discovered a research team from France and Chad in July 2001 in the Sahel zone in Central Africa. The find called Toumaï could come from the time of the separation of monkey and human beings.

Orrorin tugenensis (6 million years)

French and Kenyan scientists found in October 2000 in the Boringo region (Kenya) the remains of the "Millennium Man". He shows clear indications of the upright gait. In the professional world, however, is controversial whether he was a direct ancestor of man.

Ardipithecus ramidus (4.4 million years)

"Ardi" revolutionized the image of our ancestors: The find from Ethiopia is one of the human species (hominins) and is far more remote from the monkeys than previously thought, as reported in October 2009, a research team in the journal "Science".

Australopithecus afarensis (3.2 - 3.6 million years)

On November 30, 1974, "Lucy" is excavated in Ethiopia, a partial skeleton that is the last common ancestor of hominin ancestry. The discovery of a child in 2006, which became known as "Lucy's Baby", also caused a sensation.

Homo rudolfensis (2.5 - 2.3 million years)

This human has a bigger brain than Australopithecines and has already used tools. He is considered the oldest species so far discovered species of the genus Homo. However, as with Australopithecus sediba, researchers are still arguing about the assignment to a species. Some scientists count him as a kind of homo habilis, while others recognize him as an Australopithecine or a Kenyanothropus.

Australopithecus sediba (2 - 1.8 million years)

On August 15, 2008, paleoanthropologists near Johannesburg discover the nearly two million-year-old remains of a boy and a woman. They could represent a long sought-after link between the ape-like pre-human beings and the early humans, reports a research team in the journal "Science" in April 2010.

Homo erectus (1.8 million - 300,000 years)

Homo erectus started a migration from Africa to Europe and Asia. In 1891, the Dutchman Eugène Dubois discovers a Java man who lived 500,000 years ago. In Georgia, since 1999 researchers have found several 1.75 million years old human remains attributed to Homo erectus.

Homo heidelbergensis (780,000 / 500,000 years)

In October 1907, an approximately 500,000-year-old lower jaw of this person is excavated in the village of Mauer near Heidelberg. In 1995, Gran Dolina (Spain) found 780,000-year-old remains of four people of this kind and tools. They are among the earliest people in Europe, but probably died out.

Homo neanderthalensis (130,000 - 30,000 years)

Morphological characteristics typical of Neanderthals have been found in approximately 400,000 year old fossils from Europe. But it is believed that the first Neanderthals were created about 130,000 years ago. Today, the Neanderthal man is considered an extinct sideline of man. He disappeared from the scene about 30,000 years ago - why is not yet fully understood.

Homo floresiensis (120,000 - 10,000 years)

Known as "Hobbit", just one meter tall, the original Indonesian man was found on the island of Flores in 2004. Scientists have been arguing for years whether they were dealing with their own human species or just a sick Homo sapiens.

Denisova man (50,000 years)

In the Denisova Cave in Russia, at the beginning of the millennium, a finger bone, a tooth and a toe bone were found, which obviously do not belong to a previously known species. This lived in times of Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens. The species was not given its own name yet.

Homo sapiens (at least 160,000 years to date)

The oldest remnants of modern man to date are found by an international research team in 1997 in Ethiopia. Your age 160,000 to 190,000 years. The skull bones analyzed in 2003 confirm, according to the researchers, the assumption that the modern humans originated in Africa and spread from there into the whole world. According to genetic analyzes, however, Homo sapiens sapiens could be 300,000 years old.

Homo naledi (age unknown)

In the Rising Star Cave in South Africa, researchers discovered over 1500 fossils, which they assigned to 15 individuals. They belong to a hitherto unknown species, the Homo naledi. Its age is still unknown and therefore its classification in the family tree of humanity. The site near Johannesburg could be the oldest tomb in history.

For example, Danuvius kept his trunk upright through an S-shaped spine, while apes had only a simple curved spine. "Danuvius combined limb-dominated bipedalism with front-limbed climbing," said co-author David Begun of the University of Toronto. According to the researchers, the new ancestor of humans was about one meter in size. The females, of which also parts of a specimen were found in the clay pit, may have weighed about 18 kilograms, the male found 31 kilograms.

Christoph Jäckle / Nature / DPA

Bones of the hand of a male Danuvius guggenmosi are examined

For Tracy Kivell, a professor at the University of Kent, the study now answers some questions that have been unanswered so far: the findings are the first time that you can imagine what ancestors of the great apes might have looked like, explained Kivell, who herself was not involved in the analysis was involved in an assessment of the study published in "Nature".

Madelaine Böhme assumes that further finds will support the findings from the Danuvius find. A female has already dug up teeth, a finger and a complete thigh. Also of a young specimen are well preserved remains. In addition, the Tübingen paleontologist expects further successful excavations in the creek bed of the clay pit. "It has to be imagined like a puzzle into which more and more parts are inserted," she says.

Incidentally, the researchers also refer to the hobby archeologist Sigulf Guggenmos as the name of the find. He first discovered fossils at the site in 1972 in the former brickmill "Hammerschmiede" in Pforzen. Glory comes too late for Guggenmos. He died at the age of 76 last year.

Source: spiegel

All tech articles on 2019-11-06

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