So everybody has been looking in Africa, but it just isn't working because of the molar root structure that they have. They say in this study that there really isn't that much information, but what information they DO have is not necessarily pointing to Africa and in fact seems to point more to these other areas, where they DO have some lineage evidence, based on this molar root structure fossil record.
"The overwhelming effort to reconstruct hominin origins have been focused on the African continent. However, ancestral lineages remain largely unknown [
16]. A crucial problem in identifying ancestral lineages is the prevalence of homoplasy and the relative lack of derived morphological features that reduces the phylogenetic resolution around lineage divergence [
17,
18]. Root morphology might be a potential feature, which is less affected by homoplasy. Studies on fossil hominids, extant great apes and humans indicate that the premolar root number is not primarily linked to a functional adaptation, and is interpreted to represent a genetic polymorphism [
19,
20]. Hence, homoplasy is only a minor consideration for the traits of premolar root numbers, which therefore may provide a useful phylogenetic signal. "
"In this study, we propose based on root morphology a new possible candidate for the hominin clade,
Graecopithecus freybergi from Europe.
Graecopithecus is known from a single mandible from Pyrgos Vassilissis Amalia (Athens, Greece) [
38] and possibly from an isolated upper fourth premolar (P4) from Azmaka in Bulgaria [
39] (
Fig 1A and 1B). A new age model for the localities Pyrgos Vassilissis and Azmaka, as well as the investigations on the fauna of these localities [
40] confirms that European hominids thrived in the early Messinian (Late Miocene, 7.25–6 Ma) and therefore existed in Europe ~ 1.5 Ma later than previously thought [
39]. This, and recent discoveries from Çorakyerler (Turkey), and Maragheh (Iran) demonstrate the persistence of Miocene hominids into the Turolian (~8 Ma) in Europe, the eastern Mediterranean, and Western Asia [
41,
42]."
Potential hominin affinities of Graecopithecus from the Late Miocene of Europe
