Skulls offer hint of human evolution

Zhengzhou - New evidence has emerged that prehistoric primates in northern China might have been hybrids of the indigenous population and Europeans, challenging the popular view of humankind's African origins.

Humanoid cranial remains from 105,000 to 125,000 years ago, found in Xuchang in Central China's Henan province, share characteristics of Chinese hominids, early modern humans and Neanderthals, a species named for the Neanderthal region of Germany, according to a report in Science magazine on March 2.

Research on two skulls, Xuchang 1 and Xuchang 2, which were discovered in 2007 and 2014, respectively, show a similar occipital bone and inner ear labyrinth structure to Neanderthals, says Li Zhanyang, the lead author of the report and a researcher at the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology.

The Xuchang skulls also have primitive features of Homo erectus pekinensis, or Peking Man, including a low neurocranial vault, flat neurocranium and a short mastoid with inward slopes, the article says.

The Xuchang humans lived between Peking Man (about 200,000 and 700,000 years ago) and early modern humans in North China (about 40,000 years ago), proving continuity of human evolution in the region, Li says.

Li says that Xuchang 1 has features of early modern humans and is very likely a direct ancestor of modern northern Chinese. Xuchang is located to the north of the Huaihe River.

There is a firm consensus on the African origin of the human species, but there are two competing views in paleoanthropology about the origin of modern humans, or Homo sapiens - the African view and the multiregional view.

Neanderthals thrived in Europe, northern Africa and western Asia between 30,000 and 130,000 years ago, Li says, adding that the discovery "is the first time fossils bearing characteristics of the Neanderthals have been found in East Asia".

Li led the 12-year excavation in Xuchang.

The Xuchang skulls will influence research on the origin of modern humans, says Erik Trinkaus, co-author of the report and a professor at Washington University in St Louis.

Two years ago, Li formed an international team to work on the Xuchang fossils with scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking University, East China Normal University and Washington University in St Louis. Researchers used CT scanning and 3D technology to make comparisons with human fossils found in other parts of the world.

"Xuchang Man is a new species," Li says, cautioning that a satisfactory DNA analysis of the fossils has yet to be carried out.

Xinhua