Archaeologica.org

A European Ancestor to African Great Apes and Humans?


Rudapithecus hungaricus, above, may be the ancestor of African great apes, including humans, but it lived in Europe. Artwork © John Gurche.

While the spotlight of the day might rest on the newly announced Miocene ape, Anoiapithecus brevirostris, another important early great ape is sitting in the shadows. It is Rudapithecus hungaricus, which, along with Dryopithecus and Anoiapithecus, is considered by some to be related to living great apes. Rudapithecus may be the closest we have yet come to finding the ancestor of African great apes and humans. All of these fossil apes were found in Europe.

Rudapithecus, nicknamed Gabi, was discovered through the work of National Geographic grantee David Begun of the University of Toronto and his collaborator at the Geological Institute in Budapest, László Kordos. The fossil is known from an almost complete skull and mandible (the only such set from a Miocene [...]

uniface wrote:He looks familiar. I've seen him somewhere.

Probably at work . . .