The basin has been home to
important discoveries in
human evolution, including many hominid
fossils and the
earliest known stone tools (SN: 6/13/15, p. 6).
By examining
fossils of
early hominins, researchers have found that
humans and chimpanzees may have split from their last common ancestor
earlier than previously thought, and this
important event may have happened in the ancient savannahs of Europe, not Africa.