![]() The family that donated the skull to co-author Ji Qiang, at Hebei GEO University’s museum, had been hiding it in a well for three generations. Like its origins, the skull’s 20th-century story isn’t entirely clear. ![]() But it seems that wherever the 146,000-year-old fossil falls on the human family tree, it will add to growing evidence that a fascinating and diverse period of evolution was occurring in China from about 100,000 to 500,000 years ago.Īnd because excavations in China haven’t been as extensive as those in places like Africa, experts are only beginning to uncover the evidence. If so, that would make the strange skull a close relative indeed since most humans today still have significant amounts of Neanderthal DNA from repeated interbreeding between our species.Ĭlaims of a new human species are sure to cause skepticism and spark debate. sapiens than the Neanderthals,” says Xijun Ni, a paleoanthropologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Hebei GEO University. “The discovery of the Harbin cranium and our analyses suggest that there is a third lineage of archaic human once lived in Asia, and this lineage has closer relationship with H. The man’s family had been hiding the fossil since it was unearthed at a construction site in Harbin nearly 90 years ago.Īfter geochemical detective work to locate where the fossil was likely found, and painstaking comparison of its distinctive features with those of other early humans, some of the scientists investigating the find believe the cranium from Harbin could represent an entirely new human species- Homo longi or "Dragon Man.” If so, they further suggest it might even be the human lineage most closely related to ourselves. Even so, some other researchers consider A.Three years ago, a Chinese farmer made an unusual donation to a university museum-a giant, nearly intact human skull with strange proportions and an unusual backstory. Sediba originated or how far it ranged beyond its one known fossil site in sediba was an ancestor of the Homo genus remains in play, de Ruiter says. sediba, but a controversial proposal that A. Evidence of previously dated reversals ofĮarth’s magnetic field in Drimolen sediment helped to confirm age estimates forĮrectus fossils may be slightly older than those of A. Two techniques for calculating the time since sediments formed just below andĪbove where the specimens were found. Herries’ team dated the fossil braincases at Drimolen using Sediments that held those finds has proven difficult. But many fossilsįrom the first two species are fragmentary, and precise dating of cave sediba all dated to nearly 2 million years ago. In College Station, who was not involved in the research.Įarlier work at several other South African cave sites had “These spectacular discoveries confirm what some of us haveĮxpected for some time, that three genera of coexisted in southernĪfrica,” says paleoanthropologist Darryl de Ruiter of Texas A&M University Excavators at South Africa’s Drimolen site, shown with some of the animal bones they have found, have recovered roughly 2-million-year-old fossils of two hominid species, Homo erectus and Paranthropus robustus. It’s unclear whether members of the three hominid lines everĮncountered each other during that transition period. During that stretch,Ĭlimate and habitat fluctuations drove AustralopithecusĮcological challenges, possibly outcompeting Australopithecus for limited resources, the researchers speculate. Million and 1.9 million years ago, Herries’ team says. Transition in hominid evolution occurred in southern Africa between around 2.1 Taken together, these discoveries indicate that a major Inhabited nearby parts of South Africa approximately 2 million years ago. Researchers previously determined that two Australopithecus species, A. Million years ago, the scientists report in the April 3 Science.įossil comes from a child who displayed a long, low braincase typical of adults Both finds date to between 2.04 million and 1.95 Robustus, say paleoanthropologist Andy Herries of La Trobe University in Melbourne,Īustralia, and his colleagues. Uncovered two fossil braincases, one from Homo Though, if the three ancient populations inhabited the region at precisely theĮxcavations at Drimolen, a set of caves in South Africa, Successful, humanlike species, new fossil discoveries suggest. Years ago, signaling an evolutionary swing propelled by the spread of a highly Different hominid lines clustered at the bottom of Africa around 2 million
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