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

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 loca...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of human evolution 2012-01, Vol.62 (1), p.138-145
Main Authors: Spassov, N., Geraads, D., Hristova, L., Markov, G.N., Merceron, G., Tzankov, T., Stoyanov, K., Böhme, M., Dimitrova, A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Balkans
Bicuspid - anatomy & histology
Biological Evolution
Bulgaria
Earth Sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Europe
Exact sciences and technology
Fossils
Greece
Hominidae
Hominidae - anatomy & histology
Hominidae - genetics
Hominids
Human evolution
Late Miocene
Migration
Morphology
Morphometrics
Ouranopithecus
Paleontology
Phylogeny
Premolar
Sciences of the Universe
Southeast Europe
Stratigraphy
Teeth
Turolian
Vertebrate paleontology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary: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.
ISSN:0047-2484
1095-8606
DOI:10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.10.008