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Scientists Discover New Human Species With Large Heads
Scientists have discovered a new species of human that went extinct 200,000 years ago in what is now China. Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of 16 individuals that were distinguished by large heads, wide skulls and huge teeth.
Their head sizes, which were larger than those of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, led the team to name the new prehistoric species Homo juluensis.
The fossilized remains were found alongside thousands of artefacts, stone tools and animal bones that revealed more about their lives, such as that they were hunters and made clothing from animal skins.
Researchers believe the species lived in small groups that likely disappeared when modern humans began migrating into Europe and Asia 120,000 years ago.
Homo juluensis lived during a dramatic climate change, with an ice age that brought cooler, drier weather. Because Homo juluensis lived in small groups, this made them vulnerable to dangerous weather events that could kill them.
That’s one reason why Homo juluensis population densities were probably never as high as they were when modern humans left Africa in large numbers, study co-author Christopher Bae told Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post. They genetically displaced native populations like Neanderthals and Juluensis, he said.
Researchers from the University of Honolulu and the Chinese Academy of Sciences reported that Homo juluensis skulls measured between 103 and 109 cubic inches. This compared with the cranial capacity of Neanderthals, which was 88 cubic inches, and Homo sapiens, which was 82 cubic inches.
However, Bae cautioned that the size difference does not necessarily mean that ancient species were more intelligent than modern humans.
The researchers compared the fossils with Neanderthals and Denisovans, bone fragments of which were discovered in a cave in southern Siberia in 2008.
Their findings led the researchers to believe that they were not related to the Neanderthals who lived in Europe and Asia about 40,000 years ago. However, they noted that the species Homo juluensis has similarities with Denisovans due to similar dental features.
The scientists compared the bite surfaces where the lower and upper teeth touched during chewing and concluded that the surface of the molars was “almost identical.”
Bae said stone tools, artifacts, and animal bones indicate that Homo juluensis ate and processed wild horses at the Xujiayao site where their fossils were found.
They hunted horses as a group and ate their meat, bone marrow, and cartilage for sustenance, including using their skins to make clothing that protected them from harsh winters.
The study, published in the journal Nature, says the new species likely formed as a result of a combination of their genetics with Homo sapiens and migration to new locations during the late Quaternary period, which began 300,000 years ago.
This time period was categorized by major shifts in climate change that caused repeated ice ages that led to the extinction of ancient human species.
The post Scientists Discover New Human Species With Large Heads appeared first on Anomalien.com.
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