Lost land bridge to Europe? Discovery challenges human history books

A long lost land bridge linking Africa, Europe, and Asia has been rediscovered by archaeologists, challenging the existing records of human history.

A paper published on 17 September provides details of Ayvalık, a region in western Anatolia that has remained largely unexamined in Pleistocene archaeology.

Archaeologists discovered ancient artifacts such as handaxes and cleavers as well as blade and bladelet technologies, showing the importance of Ayvalık in ancient northeastern Aegean and for future research.

A hidden path

Ayvalık, an archaeologically understudied region, forms a transitional zone between the North Aegean and the Anatolian mainland.

There were times when the tides went down, and during such periods provided direct links between Anatolia and southeastern Europe, such as Rodafnidia on the island of Lesvos.

As a region intermittently exposed as dry land during periods of lowered sea level, it provided opportunities for early humans to settle and provided a path for them to travel from one place to another. 

However, the region has remained largely unexplored until now. Surveys conducted in the region identified 138 lithic artifacts at 10 sites among many other findings that suggested human presence and activity in the site many years ago.

According to the researchers, humans may have occupied the region from approximately 1 million to 400,000 years ago.

The paper stated:

“Despite preservation challenges due to Ayvalık’s geology and dynamic coastal processes, these findings reveal a previously undocumented Paleolithic presence and establish Ayvalık as a promising locus for future research on early human dispersals in the northeastern Aegean.”

Questioning recorded human history

With the discovery of Ayvalık, many people may be wondering what else scientists and archaeologists may have left out of human history.

For example, while we have been taught from childhood about the solar system, more planets have been discovered since then, and astronomers recently discovered a mysterious object moving in sync with Neptune.