Archaeological evidence suggests that more than 200,000 years ago, a large number of early men from Africa migrated to present-day Greece. According to the researchers, these prehistoric African men may have been replaced by early European and Asian men. According to Science News, early men evolved in Africa, Europe, and Asia over tens of thousands of years later. Early European men, who replaced prehistoric African men, became extinct around 40,000 years ago.
The discovery of Africans in Greece is linked to the discovery of a skull in a cliffside cave on Greece’s southern coast in 1978. It is the oldest human remains connecting early man’s activities outside of Africa. The remains indicate that they lived in the region for at least 210,000 years, while early men in Europe and Asia are thought to have settled there for at least 170,000 years. Their skull case was discovered at the same location.
The two skulls were cast in layers in Greece’s Apidima Cave after being washed from a higher cliff and cemented in the earth 150,000 years ago, according to researchers.
Researchers speculated that because the skulls’ ages varied, they may have ended up in two different layers of the earth.
Katerina Harvati, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Tubingen in Germany who published these findings in Nature, stated that the Greek skull is 160,000 years older than the remains of prehistoric men of European origin. When compared to the remains of early men discovered in Israel’s Misliya Cave, Harvati claims that the African remains are older. The assumption is that the presence of prehistoric African men spread further into Europe than previously thought. This exodus is thought to have begun 300,000 years ago.
Harvati explained that there is a strong possibility that prehistoric men from Africa and Europe lived in Southeastern Europe at the same time and reproduced. This is supported by evidence from 2017, which indicates that humans were likely intimate with prehistoric men of European origin.
Previous research on Apidima skulls revealed that they retained sections of their face and braincase. Evidence suggests the presence of early European men 160,000 years ago. Harvati stated that they used modern technology such as four 3-D reconstruction to reconstruct the face, which included features such as heavy brow ridges, a sloping face, and other characteristics of prehistoric European men. According to the dating analysis, the skull was 170,000 years old.
Eric Delson, a paleoanthropologist at City University of New York’s Lehman College, confirmed Harvati’s findings that early men from Africa migrated to parts of Southeastern Europe several times over the course of 200,000 years.