Researchers in China made an important discovery: they announced that they had discovered a new species of human – Homo juluensis.
It is believed that this species is similar to already known but mysterious Denisovans (an extinct species or subspecies of the archaic human genus Homo), leading researchers to believe that they may be members of the juluensis group. This discovery was made possible thanks to a study published in the journal Nature.
Researchers believe growing fossil collection is leading to better understanding paleoanthropology of East Asia the late Quaternary period, a time when Homo juluensis likely roamed the Earth.
Homo juluensis is believed to have existed around 300,000 years ago and made stone tools, and also hunted wild horses. The significant discovery is expected to help better understand the complex history of evolution across Asia and open a “window” to a new way of organizing fossils, according to the professor Christopher J. Bay from University of Hawaii V Department of Anthropology.
He explained: “This study brings clarity to the ape fossil archive, which typically includes everything that cannot easily be classified as Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalensis or Homo sapiens. Although we started this project several years ago, we did not expect that we would be able to propose a new species of ape (human ancestor) and then organize the ape fossils from Asia into different groups. This will ultimately help in science communication.”
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