24 September 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Balkanatolia: The Forgotten Continent That Sheds Light On The Evolution Of Mammals

A team of French, American and Turkish paleontologists and geologists led by CNRS researchers has discovered the existence of a forgotten continent they have dubbed Balkanatolia, which today covers the present-day Balkans and Anatolia. 

Formerly inhabited by a highly specific fauna, they believe that it enabled mammals from Asia to colonize Europe 34 million years ago. 

For millions of years during the Eocene Epoch (55 to 34 million years ago), Western Europe and Eastern Asia formed two distinct land masses with very different mammalian faunas: European forests were home to endemic fauna such as Palaeotheres (an extinct group distantly related to present-day horses, but more like today’s tapirs), whereas Asia was populated by a more diverse fauna including the mammal families found today on both continents.

Map showing Balkanatolia 40 million years ago and at the present day [Credit: Alexis Licht & Grégoire Métais]
Map showing Balkanatolia 40 million years ago and at the present day [Alexis Licht & Grégoire Métais]

We know that, around 34 million years ago, Western Europe was colonized by Asian species, leading to a major renewal of vertebrate fauna and the extinction of its endemic mammals, a sudden event called the “Grande Coupure.” Surprisingly, fossils found in the Balkans point to the presence of Asian mammals in southern Europe long before the Grande Coupure, suggesting earlier colonization.

Now, a team led by CNRS researchers has come up with an explanation for this paradox. To do this, they reviewed earlier palaeontological discoveries, some of which date back to the 19th century, sometimes reassessing their dating in the light of current geological data. The review revealed that, for much of the Eocene, the region corresponding to the present-day Balkans and Anatolia was home to a terrestrial fauna that was homogeneous, but distinct from those of Europe and eastern Asia. This exotic fauna included, for example, marsupials of South American affinity and Embrithopoda (large herbivorous mammals resembling hippopotamuses) formerly found in Africa. The region must therefore have made up a single land mass, separated from the neighboring continents.

The team also discovered a new fossil deposit in Turkey (Büyükteflek) dating from 38 to 35 million years ago, which yielded mammals whose affinity was clearly Asian, and are the earliest discovered in Anatolia until now. They found jaw fragments belonging to Brontotheres, animals resembling large rhinoceroses that died out at the end of the Eocene.

Site excavated in Turkey (Büyükteflek) [Credit: Alexis Licht & Grégoire Métais]
Site excavated in Turkey (Büyükteflek). [Alexis Licht & Grégoire Métais]

All this information enabled the team to outline the history of this third Eurasian continent, wedged between Europe, Africa, and Asia, which they dubbed Balkanatolia. The continent, already in existence 50 million years ago and home to a unique fauna, was colonized 40 million years ago by Asian mammals as a result of geographical changes that have yet to be fully understood. It seems likely that a major glaciation 34 million years ago, leading to the formation of the Antarctic ice sheet and lowering sea levels, connected Balkanatolia to Western Europe, giving rise to the “Grande Coupure.”

Their findings are published in Earth Science Reviews.

CNRS

Cover Photo: Upper molar of a Brontothere mammal of Asian origin [Photo: Alexis Licht & Grégoire Métais]

Related Articles

Some interesting facts regarding its use the Galata Tower in Istanbul

10 July 2021

10 July 2021

The Galata Tower is one of Istanbul’s most recognizable landmarks, and its bright lights can be seen from all across...

Delikkemer Aqueduct: A Roman Engineering Wonder Along the Lycian Way

17 May 2025

17 May 2025

Hidden among the lush forests of southwestern Turkey, the Delikkemer Aqueduct stands as a testament to ancient Roman ingenuity. Located...

Istanbul’s Iron Church of Unique Beauty

1 November 2021

1 November 2021

The Bulgarian Church of St. Stephens was constructed like a cross-shaped Basilica. St. Stephen Church is also known as The...

Ancient Greeks Built a Road to Haul Cargo Overland: The Father of the Railway: Diolkos

6 May 2024

6 May 2024

The Diolkos, an ambitious road that crossed the entire Isthmus of Corinth and was partially paved with stone, was built...

Derinkuyu: A Subterranean Marvel of Ancient Engineering with 18 Levels and Capacity for 20,000 Inhabitants

2 May 2025

2 May 2025

Beneath the sun-drenched plains of Cappadocia, where otherworldly “fairy chimney” rock formations pierce the sky, lies a secret world carved...

The Enigmatic Architecture of Sacsayhuaman: The Sacred Stronghold of Massive Stones and Mysteries

14 March 2025

14 March 2025

Sacsayhuaman Fortress, located just outside Cusco, Peru, is one of the most astonishing archaeological complexes in the world. Initiated by...

Foundations laid with human blood “Foundation sacrifices”

5 September 2021

5 September 2021

The custom of sacrificing a human being at the erection of a new house or fortress is very old. Foundation...

The Dispilio Tablet: may be the earliest known written text

7 January 2022

7 January 2022

Although traditional archeology claims that writing was not invented in Sumer between 3000 and 4000 BC, an artifact that contradicted...

The Ephesus Massacre: 80,000 Romans Slaughtered in a Single Night of Blood and Betrayal

29 May 2025

29 May 2025

The Ephesus Massacre saw 80,000 or more Romans killed overnight during the Asiatic Vespers — one of the deadliest uprisings...

The Mysterious Horsemen of Pir Panjal: Secrets of an Ancient Legacy in Jammu and Kashmir

24 April 2025

24 April 2025

Deep within the rugged Pir Panjal range in Jammu and Kashmir, India, lies a captivating mystery known as the Mysterious...

Jordan’s mysterious ancient wall “Khatt Shebib”

22 October 2022

22 October 2022

The accomplishments of ancient civilizations are typically woefully underappreciated because we stereotype them as primitives who only wore loincloths, and...

India’s Ancient ‘Dwarf Chambers’: Hire Benkal’s 2,500-Year-Old Mysterious Megalithic Legacy

26 July 2025

26 July 2025

Tucked away in the rugged granite hills of Karnataka lies Hire Benkal, a vast prehistoric necropolis that silently guards the...

4,000 Years of Wisdom: Women’s Rights and Inheritance in the Kültepe Tablets

8 March 2025

8 March 2025

The Kültepe Tablets, discovered in the ancient site of Kültepe (ancient Kanesh) in central Anatolia, are approximately 4,000 years old...

Gladiators were mostly Vegetarians and they were fatter than you may think

6 August 2023

6 August 2023

What better epitomizes the ideal male physique than the Roman gladiator? Gladiators were the movie stars of the first century,...

“Dholavira,” the settlement with the world’s oldest signboard

16 August 2021

16 August 2021

Dholavira, also known as Kotda (which means “big fort”), is one of the islands in Kutch’s vast desert. The city...