Thirty million years ago, one of the first hominid species, Nsungwepithecus, developed in Europe. In Africa (Tanzania), the first hominid species (Rukwapithecus, which would give rise to orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans) developed only five million years later. Hominids in Africa failed to compete with other apes, but in Africa, Nacholapithecus, 13 million years ago, managed to cross a temporary land bridge to Europe. Then, 11 million years ago, other ape species also arrived in Europe from Africa, while Hispanopithecus evolved in Europe, followed by Graecopithecus freybergi, 7 million years ago. The latter was discovered after a reanalysis in May 2017 of artifacts found in Athens by Wehrmacht soldiers while building a swimming pool in a former underground shelter in 1944. The remains are dated to 7,175,000 years ago. Numerous fossilized human traces dating back 5.7 million years were also found on Crete, but shortly thereafter, hominids became extinct in Europe and likely returned to Africa, perhaps due to the Messinian Salinity Crisis (caused by Africa’s closure of Gibraltar), which completely dried out the Mediterranean Sea between 5.9 and 5.3 million years ago, rendering much of the surrounding area uninhabitable. During the Messinian Salinity Crisis, salt deposits 1.5 km thick were deposited on the Mediterranean Sea floor (a million cubic kilometers of salt was locked there, changing the salinity of the rest of the world’s seas). Temperatures on these deposits reached 80°C, and the Nile and other major rivers failed, by a factor of ten, to contribute enough water to maintain the Mediterranean Sea. Then, 5.3 million years ago, Gibraltar reopened, and the Atlantic Ocean flooded the Mediterranean (Langelian Flood) in just a century (the level rose up to 10 meters per day).
