"People with large heads": Researchers have discovered a new species of ancient human.
Scientists have discovered a new species of ancient human whose brain was larger than that of modern humans, reports UNN citing science warning.
Details
A "provocative" article has been published in the journal Nature about an entirely new group of ancient humans - the cousins of Denisovans and Neanderthals, who once lived alongside Homo sapiens in East Asia over 100,000 years ago.
It is suggested that the brains of these individuals, who once hunted horses, were larger than those of our species, for example.
Paleoanthropologist Sucze Wu from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and anthropologist Christopher Bee from the University of Hawaii named this new group Juluren, meaning "people with big heads."
Previously, some scientists attributed the fossils of Homo juluensis to the Denisovans, which represent a group of ancient humans related to Neanderthals who once lived alongside modern humans and even interbred with them in some parts of Asia.
However, researchers examined fossils found in China more closely and stated that some of their features cannot simply be categorized as belonging to modern humans, Neanderthals, Denisovans, or Homo erectus, hominids.
Over the past two decades, the human family tree has changed significantly, making it quite challenging to distinguish and name all its branches, as new ones continue to emerge and intertwine with existing lineages.
For instance, in 2003, scientists discovered Homo floresiensis – the smallest known species of human, which lived at least 100,000 years ago on an island in Indonesia.
In 2007, archaeologists uncovered Homo luzonensis in the Philippines – a completely new species of hominids from 67,000 years ago.
In 2018, paleoanthropologists obtained a fossil from Northeast China that turned out to be an extinct species of archaic human, possibly related to Denisovans.
Only in 2021 did scientists officially designate the species Homo longi. Various fossils belonging to H. juluensis exhibit classic Neanderthal tooth characteristics. However, some traits are not observed in other known hominids, including Denisovans.
In 2023, for example, scientists discovered a hominin fossil in China that did not resemble any other known human fossils. Sucze Wu and Christopher Bee state that this is a good example of the "complexity of the human evolutionary record."
Reminder
A treasure of nearly 3,000 Roman coins from the 3rd century AD has been found in Germany outside the borders of the empire. The discovery was made in the Westerwald mountains, far from known settlements of that time, raising questions among scholars.