A 300,000-year-old skull has been found in China, unlike any other pre-modern human fossil ever found, and thus points to a potential new branch on the human family tree, according to new research. The finding was made by an international team of researchers from China, Spain and the United Kingdom, who unearthed the skull – more specifically the mandible or lower jaw – in the Hualongdong region, in the east of the country, in 2015, along with 15 other specimens. which are believed to have originated in the Late Middle Pleistocene period.
Scientists believe that this period, which began around 300,000 years ago, was a pivotal period in the evolution of hominids (species considered human), including modern humans. The research team’s study, published in the Journal of Human Evolution on July 31 and cited by CNN International, concluded that the mandible, known as HLD 6, is “unexpected” and does not fit into any existing taxonomic group.
The research explains that many hominin fossils from the Pleistocene period, discovered in China, have been equally difficult to classify and were previously considered anomalies. However, this discovery, along with other recent studies, is slowly changing what is known about the evolutionary pattern of this period.
By comparing the jawbone of Pleistocene hominins with that of modern humans, the researchers found that it bears features of both. The shape is similar to the mandible of the Homo sapiensthe modern human species that evolved from erectusbut it also shares a feature from a different branch, the Denisovanswho seem to have no chin.
“HLD 6 lacks an actual chin, but does have some slightly voiced features that seem to anticipate this typical feature of the Homo sapiens. The Hualongdong are thus the oldest known fossil population in Asia to display this mosaic of primitive human-like features. Homo sapiens“María Martinón-Torres, author of the study and director of the National Center for Research on Human Evolution (CENIEH) of Spain, explained to CNN International.
Despite the discovery, Martinón-Torres argues that more work is needed to correctly describe DAN 6.
“More fossils and more studies are needed to understand their exact position in the human family tree,” added the study’s author.
Source: TSF
