A new study on the origin of man has revealed humanity may have originated from Greece.
It’s a widely held belief that man originated from Africa, but a new study led by Professor Per Ahlberg from Uppsala University in Sweden, claims man may have actually originated from Crete.
This new study, in which Alhberg is the author, claims to have found a new foot print on the island of Crete which could potentially change the history of the origin of man.
As it stands, the widely accepted origin of modern man predates approximately 300,000 years ago, the oldest fossil remains of homo sapiens was uncovered in Morocco, which supports the theory that Africa is ‘the cradle of mankind’.
However this new, and somewhat controversial, unearthing in Crete suggests the human footprint left 5.7 million years ago challenges this belief. The new discovery suggests man has been exploring various continents, including Europe, much earlier than we first thought.
Speaking to The Independent, Professor Ahlberg said:
This discovery challenges the established narrative of early human evolution head-on and is likely to generate a lot of debate.
Whether the human origins research community will accept fossil footprints as conclusive evidence of the presence of hominins in the Miocene of Crete remains to be seen.
The study inspected the footprint, particularly the toes, and showed it was a fully evolved human foot. This led to the conclusion that the foot clearly belonged to our early human ancestors.
The researchers also made it clear the footprint they discovered, and their supposed species, may have developed different traits from those found in Africa.
At the time the print was made the Sahara Desert did not exist and Crete had not yet broken away from mainland Greece.
