Fossils show Anatolian city was once like Africa

Fossils unearthed from the Çorakyerler fossil bed in the Central Anatolian province of Çankırı have revealed that the region was very similar to the African continent some 8 million years ago.

Excavation works have been ongoing in the province’s Fatih neighborhood since 1997 and the remains of nearly 3,500 8-million-year-old fossils have been found so far. The fossil bed turned into an excavation site in 2001.

Ankara University Faculty of Language, Literature and Geography Anthropology Department member Prof. Ayla Sevim Erol is the head of the excavations, where 10 students from various universities are working.

Stating that they had recently started this year’s excavations, Erol added they had found a number of different species. “We have so far found more than 20 species including elephant, rhino, horse, pig, giraffe, ship, deer, otter and saber-toothed tiger.”


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