Really appreciate the work Prof. Begun and his colleagues are doing. Must take the patience of angels to find and process the fossils and a scientific mind to match. Thank you all.

I grew up with the idea human origins began in Africa but I`m willing to accept we could've started in Europe instead. Either way our human family tree still started as just One ancestral population and that`s what`s really important to me.

You just answered about 47 questions I've been harboring in the back of my mind for many decades. 😊

Anatolya, were fosil were found, a part of today Turkey, is not in Europe, just for the record.

I believe our understanding of human evolution is going to continue to grow and evolve. Starting from a linear perspective in Darwins time, to a branching tree, and finally to a complex bush of interbreeding and migration.

What a great episode. Prof. Begun is wonderful to listen to. Thank you for another fine episode. Loved the title of "The Ancestors of Our Ancestors", alluded to at 31:50 . Again, many thanks.

This channel needs to get more subscribers! Great content! Well done!

Terrific video again. I've said this before, if find these videos are well-structured but you also allow your guest to present things at their own pace. The segmented chapters in on the time bar is also very handy. I have heard of this theory before but it was great to go into the specifics. What surprised me most was how much emphasis was put in the roots of the teeth. Teeth obviously change with evolution and can say so much about the habits of a species as well as the health of an individual. When you think about the importance of teeth, your entire thought is based on the 'business end' of the tooth rather than where and how it is anchored. It might seem small but very interesting.

Well my latest hypothesis is that we all originally came from the sea, so we're all evolved fish. So lets have no more arguments over Africa, Europe, Black, White, monkeys or apes or whatever else. We're all fish guys so just chill the fuck out okay!

I recall learning of this possibility more that twenty yrs ago as an anthro undergrad. It may also be a result of an incomplete and very scant African fossil record, which may be due to preservation bias and also lack of research and paleo anthropology being conducted in parts of Africa due to political difficulties. It’s easier to excavate your own back yard as it were. My other concern is that racism was very overt and prevalent amongst European Paleoanthropologist’s in the early years of exploration. The idea of an African origin for Homo was an anathema. Many latched onto the idea that Homo had an Asian or European origin and only later migrated into Africa because the thought of African ancestry no matter how deep in the past for white Europeans was unacceptable. I can’t help but wonder if those who enthusiastically tout these findings don’t do so for the same reason even if it may be unconscious bias on their part. I’m just saying before one jumps on the bandwagon that the ancestors of Homo, or Homo itself migrated from Asia or Europe into Africa to question whether one has unconscious racist bias against an African origin. It may be the case that like many other Eurasian fauna, the ancestors of Homo migrated along with them into Africa. It’s also true that African faunal assemblages migrated into Eurasia as well and may have included early apes as well. I’m just saying proceed with caution and question if one is engaging in bias confirmation no matter how unconscious it may be and be aware there may be evidence some day from Africa that suggests an African origin after all.

So... this means we're all Germans? Joking aside : fascinating video. Tracing back our lineage by teeth fossils, especially our modest canine teeth. Good thing teeth can last for millions of years in the earth (though they can hardly manage a couple of decades in my mouth ;)

A very apt surname for an expert on our origins. 🙂

Thank goodness I've found a history channel with proper voices.

I wonder how Kenyapitcheus fits into this (I think the consensus is an African Ponginae circa 14 mya?)? Was this the fragmentary African species he was referring to?

A lot of Begun's hypothesis hinges on the assumption that there should have been fossil evidence for great apes in Africa at the time when he points out there's an absence of such, but I think this fails to properly account for how poorly fossilization occurs in the rainforest, which is where these apes would primarily live; and during the Miocene Climactic Optimum those rainforests would likely have extended far beyond their current range too. We didn't even have a chimpanzee fossil until just a couple of decades ago if I'm not mistaken.

Unfortunately, the people who don't understand evolution, are people who don't care about reading or watching this type of program, and on top of that, they believe in religion, they believe in god; many of them believe in (Adam and Eve and the talking snake) It is very sad.

As a computer scientist I find this so amazing, my sister is what we call a bone digger in my family and my god I can listen and look through her "book" for days, makes you feel so small. I would love to meet our ancestors from millions of years ago, even 1 million!!

Very interesting! Thank you for the fascinating interview!

I believe that our direct ancestors were not one species, but a continuous coalition of several, or many species of homo. That means our linage could diverge into some African ape ancestors and some European ape ancestors. It seems logical, if not likely that our DNA has many roots.

Since fossils are difficult to find, but not impossible to find - there is that possibility of fossils in both in Europe, Asia and Africia that do exist that have not been found yet.

Excellent!

this is highly controversial. most anthropologists don't think the evidence points to Begun's hypothesis. they don't even bother disputing it for the most part.

What kind of foods were they able to eat? Grains, vegetables, grasses, what?

Thanks for that. Very informative!

What do these finds do to the work of Spencer Wells, author of The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey?

If there was a cooling/drying climate gradient pushing Eurasian mammals down thru the Levant into Africa, the fact that the stem-ape arose in Eurasia could account both for branching either outside or inside of Africa, or any permutation of branching history, I would expect. Pongo in SE Asia is the clearest evidence of Eurasian stem-ape origin.

The Mediterranean Sea dried up because the Gibraltar gap closed up. 19:52

Excellent ❤

The Professor mentioned climate became drier think he said 13 million years ago but doesn't know why. Saw an astronomy video, suggesting the sun has an undulating orbit of the Milky Way Galaxy once every 220 million years, which in turn would probably affect the earths climate.

Sorry if this is a noob question.... 10:55 - When Prof. Begun says they have some good skeletons of _Rudapithecus H._ 10mya, are these fossilised or actual bone? I can't recall learning how long the fossilisation process generally takes, or if/what factors might drastically quicken or delay that process. FWIW, I've only stumbled across this channel in my diverse procrastinational wanderings around YewTyoob (while I should be finishing off the assessment paperwork of my own students 🙄). I find Begun's manner, excellent. He provides suffient details to advance a science nerd's knowledge, but generalised enough for it to make sense to people with little familiarity of the field. So, great work, fellas! 🙂👍

Thank you.

Stellar presentation. Thanks.

Based on fossils, we're not out of Africa but migrated through Africa and then around the world. Isn't that amazing that fossils could prove scientific human evolution!

I have a long-time interest in mammalogy from working in a Natural History Museum as an undergraduate. Even in the 70s researchers were aware that the fossil record indicated that the great apes originated in Europe. Great to see new studies to back this up.

Liked and subbed

It would be amusing if Hominins originated from the land now under the Mediterranean sea. And no I don't mean Atlantis.....

Eurobros, we are so back

Divergence driven by climate change and migration forced by climate change is the generally accepted paradigm. I fully agree, almost. What is being neglected is migration caused by society and behavior. If you have a creature that has a family structure or a "band" such as a chimpanzee or gorilla, and you also have things like long term memory and facial recognition, or recognition of individuals....you could have strife within a band or between bands of apes. This can induce migration because some are pushed out of areas and into less favorable areas. And it can domino as populations grow. As population growth accelerates and pushes bands into new regions, it can accelerate the divergence of species. It is very difficult to link evolution with behaviorial and societal factors because in now way can those kinds of things be recorded in a fossil layer. But I think it is worth stating that we know that society and behavior were also factors. At least, we should infer that. In terms of science it is a very squishy thing to do and speculate on. But if we are going to discuss early apes and hominids we shouldn't leave these factors out of the story. We also shouldn't try to write stories and narratives. My point is that climate and catastrophe are not the only factors in speciation. I've long thought that the destiny in evolutionary terms for any organism can be affected in small ways such as having a preference of one food type over another, or one nesting behavior over another, or one mate over another. Most mammals can recognize family from non family and I also think this has played a role in the specieation of mammals.

Where do the Hylobattids fit in? Before or after Akembo??

Very very interesting. Now can we hypothesize that Neanderthals and Denisovans independently evolved from European apes?

I published these ideas of migrations from Europe to Africa in my "savanna myth" paper - Nikos Solounias

So the ancestors of our ancestors evolved in Europe and Asia?

Gryphopethicus looks reminiscent of a Macaque without the tail.

KZfaq has been outstanding, recommending me incredible up and coming channels!! All hail the only true/real God, the algorithm God!

Excellent episode as always!

Fantastic. Thanks for the clear explanation

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.". Charles Darwin

Amazing stuff

Interesting🎉

How can these skeletal remains be attributes to humans ... Thats my biggest debate about the hypothesis...theres so many factora and even more x factors that cant be quantified ... How do we.know aome of these remains from Macedonia for example arent thr progenitors of modern orangutanga for example and not in our direct lineage

You can find is theory in books written over 100 yrs ago. I’m currently reading a book from 1920 that stated this theory before him.

You made the apes go through Egypt Levantine etc where they could have gone over through Spain if there was a land connection

Instead of asking where is the evidence, he asks tell us a story. All good stories start with millions of years ago in a galaxy far far away.

31:07 How does the sampling effort of Middle-Late Miocene Europe compare to that in Eastern Africa, though? I don't have the hard data, but I suspect its been much greater in the former.

great

at about 6:00 in the animation suggest that these apes populating Europe were knuckle-walkers...that is not wright!

thank you

I guess that could be true. Just because we evolved in Africa doesn't mean all our ancestors were always there and never anywhere else.

Aren't all these new apes (Anadolius, Graechopithecus) too recent to be in our line? Sahelanthropus is already in our line, very clearly so (bipedal, human-like brain, already diverged from Pan) and is of roughly the same age 7-8 Ma. These are interesting but almost certainly a side branch rather, great apes must have already radiated by then. A cursory look at the paper suggests that these researchers are cherry-picking the evidence: where is Sahelanthropus in fig. 5? Where is Proconsul even?! This is sensationalism, not serious science!

Hypothesis.

Extremely interesting-I often wondered about the origins of orangutans, which in some aspects are more intelligent and human-like than chimps, exhibiting, for example, an apparent sense of humor

Don’t blame our ignorance and stupidity on the ape.

Just out of curiosity, since I doubt all of the ancestral branches moved in and out of Africa at the same time, and since mega fauna was moving back and forth over the Beringia connection, did any of those ancestors make it into America? It would certainly explain many of the First Nations stories of giants and other non human humanoids, and the presence of really old really primitive tools, or possibly tools, at several American sites. Life forms adapt to conditions and quite possibly some of the apes would have adjusted to the changes rather than migrated away.

Can prof. B GIVE a mechanism to gain new never before seen information in an organism? Can he give an example of a bennificial mutation that doesnt comecat a loss of information and make the organism less fit then before? He tells a good story but thats all it seems to be is just a story with no proof.... im not trying to be rude this is a serious problem with evolution as we know it. Thanks for the video

Very interesting .

David skipped over the Gibbons line who on the ground were bipedal.

So the theory is now 'Out of Africa into Europe, back to Africa and out into the world?' 🙉😂

YOU are a good Story teller

This was a great interview & I really enjoyed it.

At times in the past, the Mediteranian Sea was a group of lakes, and not one contigious barrier between Europe and Africa. It was not just apes that roamed about Europe.

*Let the Sunshine In...*

What was the "Dark Secret"? The video was good enough without resorting to clickbait.

We were all once spores in the ocean

I'm not out of Africa myself 😊

Instead of telling us about the physical APPEARANCE the apes to prove the origin of humans, why not tell us about their DNA? DNA in animals tell us from whence they came, they leave markers in their DNA. Plus I would hope our ancestors were smart enough to find a warm place to get things started. Not Europe!

Thank you for this content/information. Very interesting.

I see the resemblance in past mother

Earth is 8 billion years old according to people from other star systems that witnessed this creation and ever since have Tours here,

My ancestors came from New Jersey. I’m actually afraid to find out where their ancestors came from.

This channel is fantastic. I never miss an episode. Thanks for what you do and keep up the good work!

Oh, my comment got deleted. If I said something that someone found insulting in some way, I apologize. I did not intend for anything to be insulting. I really did find the presentation to be quite interesting. Maybe I just got too long winded. I do that sometimes. Again, I offer my apologies. I'm truly sorry, and I'll try not to do it again.

read your book, very interesting, thanks for your hard work.

The ancestor of my ancestor is my... friend?

The Aardvark is African, not Asian.

How did they get across The Alps? Or the Russian Step?

Africa was before Europe. I am only saying this cause the place that was frozen while humans was migrating was eroupe. And nothing could live in frozen regions for thousands of years. So let's start with that fact.

Mee Ape adapt too Key board, duh.... (Greetings from Bavaria!)

What were We before we were small tree dwelling mammals in Africa?

If man did evolve, then language should have evolved too. Language experts say thete is no language ever found that is primitive as from animal sounds. Linguist experts say language is language no matter were its from or time period.

There is still not enoigh evidence to really answer this question yet....i still think the evidence of an "African origin" is way stronger and better. I personally don't care either way...but most of all the important fossils have been discovered in Africa....and discoveries like Homo naledi or floriensis still show....theres still way too many questions that need to be answered. And more fossil evidence is necessary to answer a lot of these questions...

I'm confused. Has the Scientific name, Proconsul africanus been changed?

Why does Evolution T shirt man ask a question about climate change that was already covered? Was he asleep?

So excited because climate affects evolution on species 🤔 Because evolution science and climate with geology now that DNA can be analyzed this from 2010 AD most exciting because wholly Mammoth was in Alaska all year long with eating vegitation with all other species that all evolved with each other has always been my passion because History of Everything now has many various specialists that had not existed when I was reading science of everything with behavior of all living species that evolved that geology geography affected for everything with the sea barely studied . 😁👍

I would say there has been a lot of human ancestry and various species like Neanderthal that they haven’t or might not ever of discovered yet !

Evidence for this European origin hypothesis is scant.

Minor nitpick, but aardvarks are a member of afrotheria.

Dear Sir. David R Begun. I have noticed your pronunciation of Graecopithecus. It is Latin, and should not be pronounced grey but the letter I. Gri co pith e cus.

Not yet convinced one way or another. Disturbed by the supremacy voiced in some of the comments.

Where ever it was, it probably would have looked like Africa.

Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle! Love the podcast!