Paleontology
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A team of researchers led by the CNRS has revealed the existence of this continent called “Balkanatolia” which, 50 million years ago, paved the way for the replacement of endemic European mammals by Asian fauna.
In mid-January, a team of French, American and Turkish paleontologists and geologists revealed the existence of a forgotten continent, Balkanatolia, which today covers the Balkans and Georgia, passing through Turkey and part of the Danube valley. The study, led by CNRS researchers, reports that 34 million years earlier, this territory surrounded by water would have served as a crossroads between Asia and Europe, allowing Asian mammals to colonize Europe. This discovery marks a new stage in the study of the evolution of European animal species.
“It all started with an observation by paleontologists from the Natural History Museum and the University of Kansas, explains Alexis Licht, geologist in charge of research at the CNRS and co-author of the study. By observing fossils listed in Anatolia, they realized that they did not resemble at all the fossil faunas found in Asia and Europe, the territories nevertheless neighboring present-day Anatolia.
Researchers have therefore tried to find an explanation for this “anomaly”, and came to the conclusion that “The only explanation for these strange fossils is that a very long time ago there was endemic fauna on the continent”, smiles Alexis Licht. For at least twenty million years, between -60,000,000 and -4…
