Scientists found a pair of partial human skulls from Central China that helped them to reveal some mysteries about human evolution. Those skulls that researchers found from central China have some similarities with both modern and Extinct human species.
A group of paleontologists from Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing led by Zhan-Yang Li started their exploration at Xuchang, central China and found two partial fossils of a human skull. Radioactive carbon dating data indicates that those fossils are about 105,000 to 125,000 years old. Yang Li and his team found those skull during the field work at Lingjing site in central China between 2007 and 2014. Their studies on these fossils show that ancient humans were more genetically linked across Eurasia.
In the journal of Science researchers have unveiled that the fossils have larger brains like modern humans, the low and broad skulls were similar with earlier humans, and the structures of their inner ears linked them with Neanderthals. Co-author of the journal and anthropologist from Washington University in St. Louis, Erik Trinkaus said,“I don't like to think of these fossils as those of hybrids. Hybridization implies that all of these groups were separate and discrete, only occasionally interacting”.
Live Science reported that the evolution of modern humans was first started about 150,000 to 200,000 years ago. The migration of modern humans started from Africa about 100,000 years ago according to the archaeological and genetic findings. Although, Archaic humans which were known as the earlier group, left Africa beforehand and about 200,000 and 40,000 years ago Neanderthal peoples used to live in Europe and Asia.
Trinkaus explained that it is really tricky to determine the biology of the immediate predecessors of modern humans with the fragmentary nature of the human fossil. He also added that unveiling the details from this site could help researchers to understand the aspect of human evolution.
The site from where they found those skulls was a spring-fed lake amid a mosaic of open grasslands and some forest. Yang Li and his team found fossils of over 20 other mammal species which include deer, horses, rhinos, gazelles and rodents. About six of those specimens had cut marks on their bones that truly indicate that humans hunt them as prey.
From these collections, researchers found that the populations of humans across Eurasia were more connected with each other. Now, researchers are planning for more field works to collect more bones of the skull so that they can construct a total structure of their skull and face.
