Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Scientists announce they have discovered a new human species. The skull found was reported to be a human without a chin.
The bones found were from children aged 13-14 years who lived up to 300 thousand years ago. The find consisted of a skull, jaw and leg bones.
Researchers found it in Hualongdong, China in 2019. However, after being identified, the results were quite surprising.
His facial features are said to not match the ancestry of Neanderthals, or Denisovans. They thought they had found a missing branch of the human ancestry.
For your information, the Denisovans are an ancient human species that became extinct in Asia and separated from the Neanderthals more than 400 thousand years ago.
One of the highlights is that the mysterious creature found in the cave does not have an actual chin, giving this species a close resemblance to the Denisovans.
Experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) estimate the bones found reflect more primitive creatures. But the rest of the child’s face is also said to have features like modern humans, quoted from DailyMailTuesday (15/8/2023).
From these findings, the research team concluded that they had discovered a new hominin lineage. This means that there is a Homo erectus lineage that leads to Homo sapiens, Denisovans and a third link of the hominin family tree in Asia that is said to be phylogenetically close to us.
In China alone, Homo sapiens was only discovered 120 thousand years ago. However, the findings suggest that the modern era may have existed much longer than those found in the East Asian region.
The researchers say it’s possible that the last common ancestor of Homo sapiens and Neanderthals arose more in southwestern Asia. Only then spread throughout Asia.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
(npb)