Ancient Skulls Found In China Confirm Human History In The Country
A recent finding from Xuchang, China, confirms the presence of ancient human history in the country. The skulls of human species are a surprise for many as such findings were rare in East and Central Asia before. Though it can't bebconcluded which human species it belongs to, some similarities with Neanderthals and Homo sapiens (modern humans) are noted.
When learning about the human history and ancient humans, people learned about their evolutions including different species like Neanderthals, Homo erectus, etc. Neanderthals mostly lived in Europe and Western Asia, and later Homo sapiens replaced them. The research team is also looking to verify the links with Denisovans, a mysterious species of humans who lived in Siberia. Since the remains did not contain any teeth, it is not easy to verify as Denisovans were only identified by the analysis of teeth and finger bones.
The skulls found from China are almost 105,000 to 125,000 years old. It is believed that the modern humans originated almost 200,000 years back in Africa and migrated to Europe, Asia, Americas, and Oceania almost 60,000 years back and displaced the existing races there. The people who led the study at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing confirmed few characteristic features of the specimens. It has low, broad braincase, which links to similar ancient humans who were present in the region during those times.
There are few characteristic differences that was also noted. Bony ridges present over the eyes, nuchal torus - a bony bulge in the back of the skull are not found. Also, the specimens have a large braincase, which is similar to Neanderthals' which is the largest. Now the research team is hoping to get ancient DNA from the fossils, to check whether the species belong to Denisovans or some distinct species which is not yet identified. It could also be a mixed lineage of both Neanderthals and modern humans as they may have mated, researchers say.
