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"The Neanderthal genetic component in the [Tianyuan] early modern human was likely due to interbreeding after early modern humans had left Africa and overlapped with Neanderthals in the Middle East, before splitting into separate groups heading toward what are now Europe and East Asia," explained Fu. Fu and other scientists compared the DNA of the Tianyuan human with the genome of the now-extinct Neanderthal that the Max Planck Institute helped sequence and publish in 2010. The initial decoding of the Neanderthal genome and comparison with present-day populations around the world revealed that all contemporary humans outside of Africa carry a...

A 40,000-YEAR-OLD skeleton found in China has raised questions about the "out of Africa" hypothesis on how early modern humans populated the planet. The fossil bones are the oldest from an adult "modern" human to be found in eastern Asia. They contain features that call into question the widely held view that all humans alive today are descended from a small group of sub-Saharan Africans who made their way out of the continent about 60,000 years ago. Gradually they colonised other parts of the planet, replacing older human species such as the Neanderthals, which became extinct. The older humans had...

An almost complete human skull fossil that could date back 100,000 years was unearthed in Henan last month, Chinese archaeologists announced yesterday... The Henan find was made after two years of excavation at the site in Xuchang. Archaeologists have worked on an area of 260 sq m, merely one-hundredth of the Paleolithic site... The fossil consisted of 16 pieces of the skull with protruding eyebrows and a small forehead. More astonishing than the completeness of the skull is that it still has a fossilized membrane on the inner side, so scientists can track the nerves of the Paleolithic ancestors... The...

The isotopic analysis of the diet of one of the earliest modern humans in Asia, the 40,000 year old skeleton from Tianyuan Cave near Beijing, has shown that at least this individual was a regular fish consumer. Michael Richards of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology explains "Carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of the human and associated faunal remains indicate a diet high in animal protein, and the high nitrogen isotope values suggest the consumption of freshwater fish." To confirm this inference the researchers measured the sulphur isotope values of terrestrial and freshwater animals around the Zhoukoudian area and...

Chinese challenge to 'out of Africa' theory 00:01 03 November 2009 by Phil McKenna The discovery of an early human fossil in southern China may challenge the commonly held idea that modern humans originated out of Africa. Jin Changzhu and colleagues of the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology in Beijing, announced to Chinese media last week that they have uncovered a 110,000-year-old putative Homo sapiens jawbone from a cave in southern China's Guangxi province.

Mainland archaeologists have discovered a fractured but almost complete skull in Xuchang , Henan province , that they believe is from an anatomically modern Homo sapiens nearly 100,000 years old. If the estimate is correct and if the skull, broken into 16 pieces seemingly by a powerful strike, demonstrates a feature of the East Asian population, then one of palaeoanthropology's paradigms - "Out of Africa" - may be shattered. Part of the Out of Africa theory holds that anatomically modern human beings first appeared in Africa. Then, about 100,000 years ago, they moved off the continent and took over the...

Earliest Shoe-Wearers Revealed by Toe Bones Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News Shod? Look at the Toes Jan. 25, 2008 -- People started wearing shoes around 40,000 years ago, according to a study on recently excavated small toe bones that belonged to an individual from China who apparently loved shoes. Most footwear erodes over time. The earliest known shoes, rope sandals that attached to the feet with string, date to only around 10,000 B.C. For the new study, the clues were in middle toe bones that change during an individual's lifetime if the person wears shoes a lot. "When you walk barefoot,...

CHICAGO (AFP) - A new analysis of the dental fossils of human ancestors suggests that Asian populations played a larger role than Africans in colonizing Europe millions of years ago, said a study released Monday. The findings challenge the prevailing "Out of Africa" theory, which holds that anatomically modern man first arose from one point in Africa and fanned out to conquer the globe, and bolsters the notion that Homo sapiens evolved from different populations in different parts of the globe. The "Out of Africa" scenario has been underpinned since 1987 by genetic studies based mainly on the rate of...

New finding denies Chinese ancestor from Africa(Xinhua)Updated: 2007-04-03 09:48WASHINGTON -- Chinese and US researchers have reported the finding of an approximately 40,000-year-old early modern human skeleton in China, indicating that the "Out of Africa" dispersal theory of modern humans may not be as simple as was previously thought. Fossil of a mandible bone found in the Tianyuan Cave, Zhoukoudian, in suburs of Beijing. [Xinhua] The findings were published Monday on the online issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Hong Shang, from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Washington University,...

Skeleton holds key to origin of man By Roger Highfield, Science Editor Last Updated: 2:24am BST 03/04/2007 A skeleton of a possible hybrid between modern and more ancient humans has been found in China, which challenges the theory that modern man originated in Africa. Most experts believe that our ancestors emerged in Africa more than 150,000 years ago and then migrated around the world. However, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Prof Erik Trinkaus and colleagues provide details of a skeleton found in 2003 from Tianyuan Cave near Beijing. The skeleton is 42,000 to 38,500 years old,...