[CameronNemo]

My initial reaction was one of suspicion, but the story as it was laid out seemed pretty persuasive. One detail that swayed me was the reported lack of fossils in Africa of early hominin species:

While the remains of early hominines are abundant in Europe and Anatolia, they are completely absent from Africa until the first hominin appeared there about seven million years ago.

Is there another explanation for why these fossils might have been missing despite early hominines inhabiting Africa?

[mabbo]

Lots of possible reasons.

Türkiye may have an environment that is very suitable for the preservation of fossil, and one where said fossils remain near the surface. Africa is huge, but may lack areas that both has those hominids and preserved their fossils well.

Fire example, there are very few footprints on sidewalks, but lots in the mud beside them - should we conclude people must prefer to walk in the mud?

[andrewflnr]

Except that eventually we do get hominin fossils there later. And I for one haven't heard of a lack of other fossils from the same time period.

[mrguyorama]

>Is there another explanation for why these fossils might have been missing despite early hominines inhabiting Africa?

Most biological and organic things decompose quickly. Every time we find a fossil, we are winning an insanely rigged lottery. We barely have significant remains from 10k year old towns, so you can't really take any info from a supposed lack of fossils