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Graecopithecus is an extinct genus of hominid that lived in southeast Europe during the late Miocene around 7.2 million years ago. Originally identified by a single lower jawbone bearing teeth found in Pyrgos Vasilissis, Athens, Greece, in 1944, other teeth were discovered from Azmaka quarry in Bulgaria in 2012. With only little and badly preserved materials to reveal its nature, it is considered as "the most poorly known European Miocene ." The creature was popularly nicknamed 'El Graeco' (word play on the Greek-Spanish painter El Greco) by scientists.
In 2017, an international team of palaeontologists led by Madelaine Böhme of the Eberhard-Karls-University Tübingen, Germany, published a controversial analysis of the teeth and age of the specimens, and came to the conclusion that it could be the oldest hominin, meaning that it could be the oldest direct ancestors of humans after splitting from that of the . Their simultaneous study also claimed that contrary to the generally accepted evidence of the African origin of the hominin lineage, the ancestors of humans originated from the main ape ancestry in the Mediterranean region (before migrating into Africa where they evolved into the ancestors of Homo species). They named the origin of human theory as the "North Side Story."
These claims have been disputed by other scientists. Rick Potts and Bernard Wood argued that the evidence is too flimsy to even say it is a hominin. Tim D. White suggested that the analysis was an attempt to resurrect a "tired argument" for the European origins of human beings, while Sergio Almécija stated that single characters such as teeth could not support sweeping evolutionary claims.
Another tooth remain was discovered from Azmaka quarry in Bulgaria in 2012.
The thick Enamel organ and large molars are the features that convinced von Koenigswald that the specimen belonged to a hominid species. X-ray microtomography and 3-dimensional reconstruction in 2017 revealed that it belonged to an adult individual and possibly a male. The partial fusion of the fourth premolar (P4) roots is an additional evidence that it is of a hominid, and the thick enamel resembles those of the human lineage (hominins).
The dental root attributes of Graecopithecus suggest hominin affinities, such that its hominin status cannot be excluded. If this status is confirmed by additional fossil evidence, Graecopithecus would be the oldest known hominin and the oldest-known crown hominine, as the evidence for the gorillin status of Chororapithecus is much weaker than the hominin status of Graecopithecus. More fossils are needed but at this point it seems likely that the Eastern Mediterranean needs to be considered as just as likely a place of hominine diversification and hominin origins as tropical Africa.An accompanying paper presents the study of the geological environments of the areas where the fossils were discovered. Until then, the precise date of Graecopithecus has not been resolved and usually inferred from geological data of materials related the fossils and surrounding areas that add to uncertainty in its evolutionary importance and relationship with other hominids. It is often broadly described as 6.6 to 8 million years old. The PLOS One paper resolved that the hominid lived 7.37 to 7.11 million years ago, with the specime from Greece dated to 7.18 Ma and that from Bulgaria to 7.24 Ma. It also indicates that as the species lived in Europe, it suggest "that major splits in the hominid family occurred outside Africa."
It has also been proposed the Graecopithecus may not be a direct ancestor of the human lineage, but instead may have evolved its hominin-like traits independently. The emergence of Homo itself is dated to close to 4 million years later than Graecopithecus, so that the appearance of Graecopithecus in Europe does not preclude the development of Homo proper in East Africa (as suggested by Homo habilis being found in Tanzania); however, the popular press reporting on the 2017 study did cast its result in terms of determining the "birthplace of mankind". Graecopithecus lived in southeast Europe 7.2 million years ago, and if the premise of the study is correct, Graecopithecus, after evolving in Europe, would have migrated to Africa about 7 million years ago where its descendants would eventually evolve into the genus Homo.
David R. Begun of the University of Toronto, Canada, one of the co-authors, was quoted as saying that "this dating allows us to move the human–chimpanzee split into the Mediterranean area." This was set against a quote by an uninvolved anthropologist saying that "it is possible that the human lineage originated in Europe, but very substantial fossil evidence places the origin in Africa ... I would be hesitant about using a single character from an isolated fossil to set against the evidence from Africa." Since 1994, Begun had adhered to a hypothesis that African hominids (including living apes) descended from Eurasian apes since the older ape fossils are found in Europa and Asia. This is a feasible explanation as it is possible that the African ape ancestors could move to Africa around 9 million years ago from Europe.
However, many researchers have challenged the claim that Graecopithecus is evidence of the human lineage originating in Europe, since virtually all human ancestral species that have been discovered so far have been found in Africa. The European hypothesis remains in contradiction with the consensus view.
As Rick Potts, head of the Smithsonian's Human Origins Program, remarked: "I think the principal claim of the main paper goes well beyond the evidence in hand... A hominin or even a hominine (modern African ape) ancestor located in a fairly isolated place in southern Europe doesn’t make much sense geographically as the ancestor of modern African apes, or particular the oldest ancestor of African hominins." David Alba at the Catalan Institute of Palaeontology in Barcelona was the first to point out that "It is not surprising at all that Begun is now arguing that hominins as well originated in Europe." Julien Benoit of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, also commented: "Any study that counters this consensus (Out of Africa theory) would have to provide very strong evidence and perfect methodology to support its claim. In my opinion, this article doesn't meet those criteria."
Other scientists have also expressed skepticism of Begun's classification. Bernard Wood at George Washington University described the hypothesis as "relatively weak" and Sergio Almécija, also at George Washington University, says it is important to bear in mind that primates seem particularly prone to evolving similar features independently. "Single characters are not reliable to make big evolutionary claims." Tim White at the University of California, Berkeley, asserted that the study was merely an attempt "to resurrect Begun’s tired argument with a long-known crappy fossil, newly scanned."
The study concludes:
We recognise a small signal for placing Graecopithecus at the root of the Hominini clade. This means that the phylogenetic relationship between Graecopithecus and Hominini is as yet not confirmed. Our analysis supports the view that Graecopithecus is potentially an important taxon for the origin of Hominini, but this is not certain and deserves further investigation and more material.
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