2023-08-10 12:44:56
A human skull different from those previously found has been discovered in China and might mean that there was another type of human hundreds of thousands of years ago.
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A team of international researchers has unearthed the lower jaw of a skull in the Hualongdong area that is unlike any other such bone ever discovered and dates to the late Pleistocene geological epoch, CNN reports. .
This period, which ended over 11,000 years ago, would have been critically important to the development of humans as we know them today.
The skull in question, dubbed HLD 6, is said to have common characteristics with modern humans as well as hominoids that were common during the Pleistocene period.
Although the jaw is similar to that of Homo sapiens, the skull would not have a chin, which is a feature found in Homo erectus.
“These are the oldest fossils discovered in Asia that show characteristics of early humans and Homo sapiens,” said one of the authors of the study published in the periodical Journal of Human EvolutionMaría Martinón-Torres, in an interview with CNN.
The skull would have belonged to a specimen aged 12 to 13 years.
This is not the first time that hard-to-classify bones have been found in this Chinese region, according to the study.
Researchers will now be busy studying the skull further in order to position it in the human evolutionary tree.
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