Possible new human species revealed in Asia

Nov 29. () –

A University of Hawaii researcher claims to have discovered a new human species called Homo juluensis, which includes mysterious groups such as the Denisovans, relatives barely known yet.

Professor Christopher J. Bae of the Department of Anthropology in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa has been studying human ancestors throughout Asia for more than 30 years.

Their recent research, published in Nature Communications, helps clear up some of the confusion about the different types of ancient human-like species that coexisted in the region during the Late Middle Pleistocene and Early Late Pleistocene. a period of approximately between 300,000 and 50,000 years ago.

Homo juluensis lived approximately 300,000 years ago in East Asia, hunting wild horses in small groups and making stone tools and possibly processing animal skins to survive. before disappearing about 50,000 years ago.

The new species was proposed to include the enigmatic Denisovans, a population known primarily through DNA evidence from a few physical remains found in Siberia and a few fossils found in Tibet and Laos. More research is needed to verify this relationship, which is based mainly on similarities between jaw and tooth fossils from these different sites. according to a statement about the study.

Bae attributes the progress to a new way of organizing fossil evidence. With his team he has essentially created a clearer system for classifying and understanding these ancient human fossils from China, Korea, Japan and Southeast Asia.

“This study clarifies a hominin fossil record that has tended to include anything that cannot be easily assigned to Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalensis or Homo sapiens,” Bae said. “Although we started this project several years ago, we did not expect to be able to propose a new species of hominid (human ancestor) and then be able to organize hominin fossils from Asia into different groups. Ultimately, this should help with science communication“.

This work is important because it helps scientists (and the rest of us) better understand the complex history of human evolution in Asia, filling in some of the gaps in our understanding of our ancient relatives, according to the authors.