Posted on 09/21/2023 12:15:32 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A chinless jawbone from eastern China that displays both modern and archaic features could represent a new branch of the human family tree.
A fossilized jawbone discovered in a cave in eastern China bears a curious mix of ancient and modern features, according to a detailed analysis that compares it with dozens of other human specimens. The finding, published in the Journal of Human Evolution, indicates that the 300,000-year-old bone could have belonged to an as-yet undescribed species of archaic human1.
Scientists excavating a cave called Hualongdong, located in Anhui province in eastern China, have unearthed remains of 16 individuals that date to around 300,000 years ago2. Several fragments belong to the skull of a 12-to-13-year-old juvenile.
Oldest DNA from a Homo sapiens reveals surprisingly recent Neanderthal ancestry
Xiujie Wu, a palaeoanthropologist at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, and her colleagues first described the skull in 20192. But in 2020, while sifting through trays of animal bones found in the cave, they identified a fragment of a mandible — the lower part of the jaw — that could be another piece of the same skull.
The discovery has enabled a more detailed analysis of where the Hualongdong people fit on the human family tree. The mandible has a mixture of both modern and archaic features. For example, the bone along the jawline is thick, a feature shared with early human species, such as Homo erectus. It also lacks a true chin, the presence of which is a key feature of Homo sapiens. But the side of the mandible that attaches to the upper jaw is thinner than those of archaic hominins and more reminiscent of that of modern humans.
Ancient and modern
The analysis deepens the mystery of which ancient human species inhabited
(Excerpt) Read more at nature.com ...
Maybe it’s the famous missing link. ;)
No, the link works;)
Sabe ?
Might be the most significant paleoanthropological discovery since the Piltdown Man.
Only if you’re double tasking.........
"first described the skull in 20192"
Mitch McConnell time traveled?
Piltdown Man please call your office.
It’s one sample. They have no idea if it represents a new species of human, an unknown species of ape, or an individual with some birth defects or developmental problems who is not representative of their species at all.
if they put a more accurate age to the fossil, I bet they could figure it out.
Thanks nickcarraway.
"Chinless jawbone"? Could it be Frank Burns' ancestor?
Homo Erraticus
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