Human ancestry is often taken as a done and dusted topic by the layperson. However, that is far from true. Adding to the mystery, an ancient skull is now baffling scientists with its not-so-similar features to the modern human.
The mysterious skull, as per a Science Alert article, belongs to a child that was alive around 300,000 years ago.
Experts at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) working alongside researchers from China's Xi'an Jiaotong University, the UK's University of York, and Spain's National Research Center on Human Evolution say that this could potentially be the discovery of a new branch of humans.
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The mind-blowing discovery
The skull in question was discovered in 2019. Alongside it, researchers also found a jaw and leg bones. The findings were uncovered in East China's Hualondong and belong to a child between the ages of 12 and 13 years.
What baffles scientists is the fact that they can't match it to any known human lineage. The skull doesn't resemble Neanderthals, Denisovans, or us (the modern human). Yet, it does have some matching features to different lineages. This means that the hominin or the human family tree may need another branch.
I see you in me
The skull, which is a nearly complete with a partial cranium and a nearly complete mandible, as per the research published in the Journal of Human Evolution, is similarly structured to the modern human lineage.
In their analysis, the authors write that while its face has modern-human like features, the limbs, skull cap, and jaw "seem to reflect more primitive traits."
Furthermore, it lacks a chin, which is reminiscent of a Denisovan, a lineage that once existed in Asia and is now extinct.
This complicates the process of identification. The skull seems to be a mosaic of physical features, and points to the co-existence of three different lineages in Asia — H. erectus, Denisovan, and this new lineage which is "phylogenetically close" to us.
What is this new human called?
Scientists are yet to classify this purportedly new lineage of hominin. For now, they've now labelled it HLD 6 — here HLD represents Hualongdong where the skull was found.
Homo sapiens, or "wise humans" only appeared in China around 120,000 years ago.
The skull discovered by experts, as per researchers at CAS may be the historic uncovering of an entirely new lineage–a hybrid between the branch that gave us modern humans and the branch that gave us other ancient hominins in the region.
(With inputs from agencies)
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2023-08-07 14:08:33Z
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