Humans' origin likely from Europe, not Africa: Study

New Delhi : With a recently found footprint in the Greek island Crete – dating back to 5.7 million years, there are high chances that Humans may have originated in Europe, disqualifying theory of human evolution in Africa.

Old studies claimed that all fossil hominins older than 1.8 million years (the age of early Homo fossils from Georgia) came from Africa, leading most researchers with a conclusion that Africa is the place where humans evolved.

With the latest found foot print fossil, all revealed theories seem to be going in the drain. 

The big toe is similar to our own in shape, size and position. It is also associated with a distinct 'ball' on the sole, which is never present in apes.

The Trachilos footprints were securely dated using a combination of marine microfossils, plus the fact that they lay just below a very distinctive sedimentary rock formed when the Mediterranean Sea briefly dried out, 5.6 million years ago, the study said.

The researchers noted that during the time when the Trachilos footprints were made, a period known as the late Miocene, the Sahara Desert did not exist and savannah-like environments extended from North Africa up around the eastern Mediterranean.

Furthermore, Crete had not yet detached from the Greek mainland.  It is thus not difficult to see how early hominins could have ranged across south-east Europe and well as Africa, and left their footprints on a Mediterranean shore that would one day form part of the island of Crete.