Ancient Skull Found in China Is Unlike Any Human Seen Before

An international team of scientists has described an ancient human fossil in China unlike any other hominin found before.

It resembles neither the lineage that split to form Neanderthals, nor Denisovans, nor us, suggesting our current version of the human family tree needs another branch.

The jaw, skull, and leg bones belonging to this yet-to-be classified human, labeled HLD 6, were discovered in Hualongdong, in East Asia, in 2019. In the years since, experts at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have struggled to match the remains to a known lineage.

https://www.sciencealert.com/ancient-skull-found-in-china-is-unlike-any-human-seen-before



The teeth are in remarkably good shape, this person must've been very young when s/he died, a young teenager. It will be interesting to see if they can get any DNA to run. The Red Deer Cave homonins were found to be H. erectus. China has been desperate to discover some ancestral species that sets them apart from the rest of us. DNA analysis says they're not, but propaganda will likely surround this fossil.