A hominid tooth from Bulgaria: the last pre-human hominid of continental Europe

N Spassov; D Geraads; L Hristova; G N Markov; G Merceron; T Tzankov; K Stoyanov; M Böhme; A Dimitrova

doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.10.008

A hominid tooth from Bulgaria: the last pre-human hominid of continental Europe

J Hum Evol. 2012 Jan;62(1):138-45. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.10.008. Epub 2011 Dec 6.

Authors

N Spassov¹, D Geraads, L Hristova, G N Markov, G Merceron, T Tzankov, K Stoyanov, M Böhme, A Dimitrova

Affiliation

¹ National Museum of Natural History, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1 Blvd Tzar Osvoboditel, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria. nspassov@nmnhs.com

PMID: 22153571
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.10.008

Abstract

A hominid upper premolar was discovered in the Azmaka quarry, near Chirpan (Bulgaria). The associated fauna, especially the co-occurrence of Choerolophodon and Anancus among the proboscideans, and Cremohipparion matthewi and Hippotherium brachypus among the hipparions, constrains the age of the locality to the second half of the middle Turolian (ca. 7 Ma), making it the latest pre-human hominid of continental Europe and Asia Minor. The available morphological and metric data are more similar to those of Ouranopithecus from the Vallesian of Greece than to those of the early to middle Turolian hominids of Turkey and Georgia, but the time gap speaks against a direct phyletic link, and Turolian migration from the east cannot be rejected.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Bicuspid / anatomy & histology*
Biological Evolution
Europe
Fossils
Hominidae / anatomy & histology*
Hominidae / genetics