Scientists in China have discovered a new human species with astonishing physical features.
The remains of 16 individuals have been found, which featured large heads, wide skulls and immense teeth.
Their head measurements, which were bigger than Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, led the team to name a new prehistoric species called Homo juluensis.
The fossilised remains were found alongside thousands of artefacts, stone tools, and animal bones, which revealed extraordinary details about their lives.
Researchers believe the species lived in small groups that likely disappeared when modern humans started to migrate to Europe and Asia 120,000 years ago.
Homo juluensis lived during a dramatic climate shift that saw a glacial period, which caused cooler and dryer weather to sweep in.
Because they lived in small groups, they were vulnerable to becoming trapped in violent weather events that may have led to their demise.
“This is part of the reason why the population density of Homo juluensis is probably never as big as when modern humans moved out of Africa … in larger numbers,” Bae told the Post.
“They genetically swamped the indigenous populations like neanderthalensis and juluensis.”
The artefacts discovered alongside the bodies revealed that they were hunters who fashioned clothing from animal hides. They likely lived off wild horses and processed them at the Xujiayao site, where their fossils were found.
They are believed to have hunted the horses as a group and used their entire bodies to sustain themselves, including consuming the meat, marrow and cartilage and using the hides to make clothing to protect them from the harsh winters.
“The eastern Asian record is prompting us to recognize just how complex human evolution is more generally and really forcing us to revise and rethink our interpretations of various evolutionary models to better match the growing fossil record,” the study’s co-author, Christopher Bae, told the South China Morning Post.
Researchers at the University of Honolulu and the Chinese Academy of Sciences reported that the Homo juluensis skulls measured between 103 and 109 cubic inches, or a maximum of 1,768 cubic centimetres. By comparison, Neanderthals’ craniums were measured at 88 cubic inches and Homo sapiens, which measure 82 cubic inches.
This does not necessarily mean, however, that the ancient species had a higher intelligence than modern-day humans, Bae cautioned.
The researchers compared the fossils to those of Neanderthals and Denisovans – whose bone fragments were discovered in a southern Siberian cave in 2008. Their findings made researchers believe they were not connected to Neanderthals in Europe and Asia until about 40,000 years ago.
Homo juluensis, however, does share similarities with Denisovans, with matching teeth traits. They looked at a comparison of the biting surfaces, where the bottom and top teeth came into contact while chewing and found that the surface of the molars was « almost exactly the same ».
Using dating analysis, the researchers argued that Denisova is not its own species but is instead the name of a general population of ancient people, adding that it « likely belongs to Homo juluensis based on their similarities ».
The study, published in the journal Nature, said the new species likely formed due to a combination of crossing their genetics with homo sapiens and migrating to new locations throughout the Late Quaternary period – which began 300,000 years ago.
The study’s authors stated that the « diversity among… human fossils from eastern Asia is greater than we expected ».
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