opening details

The jaw, skull, and leg bones of this as-yet-unclassified individual, designated HLD 6, were found in 2019 at Hualundun in East Asia. For years, experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have tried to match the remains to a known pedigree.

The hominin’s face is structurally similar to the face of modern humans, who split from Homo erectus 750,000 years ago. But the absence of the jaw is reminiscent of the Denisovans, an extinct ancient human species that split from Neanderthals more than 400,000 years ago in Asia.

The Skull of a New Filled Human Species / Photo Journal of Human Evolution

Working with researchers from China’s Xi’an Jiaotong University, England’s York University and Spain’s National Human Evolution Research Centre, CAS scientists said: opened a completely new line the lineage is a hybrid between the branch that gave us modern humans and the branch that combined other ancient hominins in the region, such as the Denisovans.

Historically, many Pleistocene hominin fossils found in China have been difficult to fit into any one lineage. Consequently, such remains are often interpreted as intermediate variations on the path to modern humanity – for example, an archaic specimen of Homo sapiens or an advanced form of Homo erectus. However, this rather linear, simplified interpretation is controversial and not universally accepted. These new remains are reportedly more similar to modern hominin lineages.

Fossil The jaw and skull belong to a 12-13 year old boy.. The scientists say that while his face bears the features of a modern person, his skull in general shows “more primitive features.” This confirms that some of our modern traits existed during the coexistence of three human species long before Homo sapiens arose: H. erectus, H. denisovensis, and a new species tentatively named HLD 6. Intelligent humans and Neanderthals originated in southwest Asia and then spread to all continents.

The Skull of a New Filled Human Species / Photo Journal of Human Evolution