African ancestors of modern apes first migrated to Eurasia 3 million years earlier than previously thought.

According to fossil records, African 'hominoids' colonized Eurasia around 14 million years ago, giving rise to the evolution of 'hominids' such as orangutans and humans. But a fossilized hominoid tooth found in southern Germany in 1973 suggests that Eurasia's permanent colonization was pre-dated by a less successful wave of hominoid migration.

Madelaine Böhme at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen in Germany and her colleagues dated the tooth's age at around 17 million years by analysing the evolutionary state of small mammalian fossils found with it. They then calibrated its age using the magnetic polarity of the surrounding sediment. This corresponds to the direction of Earth's magnetic field, which has reversed occasionally during the planet's history.

J. Hum. Evol. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.04.012 (2011)