A&S Researchers find link between apes in Africa and 10-million-year-old ape fossils in Hungary, Spain A re-examination of the inner ear canals of two extinct great ape fossils from approximately 10 million years ago – one from Spain and another from Hungary – shows a close relationship with humans and living African apes (image by John Sibbick) An analysis of prehistoric ape fossils previously discovered in Hungary and Spain is adding weight to the theory that the ancestors of African apes and humans evolved in Europe before migrating to Africa between nine and seven million years ago. A reconstruction of the skull of Rudapithecus from Micro-CT scans (image courtesy of David Begun)