A new human species that went extinct 200,000 years ago has been found in China. Scientists discovered the remains of 16 individuals with large heads, wide skulls and huge teeth. Their heads were larger than those of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, allowing the team to name the new prehistoric species Homo juluensis.
Fossilized remains were found along with thousands of artifacts, stone tools and animal bones; This gives more information about their lives, such as how they were hunters and made clothes from animal skins. Researchers believe the species lived in small groups and likely disappeared when modern humans began migrating to Europe and Asia 120,000 years ago.
Homo juluensis lived during a dramatic climate change that caused an ice age that brought cooler, drier weather. The fact that Homo juluensis lived in small groups made them vulnerable to the effects of natural disasters, which led to their extinction.
“This is one reason why Homo juluensis population density was probably never as great as it was when modern humans left Africa in large groups,” study co-author Christopher Bay told the South China Morning Post.
The researchers compared the fossils with those of Neanderthals and Denisovans, whose bone fragments were discovered in a cave in southern Siberia in 2008. The results of their research led scientists to believe that they were not related to the Neanderthals who lived in Europe and Asia about 40,000 years ago. However, they stated that the Homo juluensis species resembles Denisovans due to its dental features.
They hunted horses in groups and used their bodies to support life, eating meat, bone marrow and cartilage, and using their hides to make clothing that protected them from harsh winters.
The study, published in the journal Nature, said the new species likely resulted from their genes interbreeding with Homo sapiens and migrating to new locations in the late Quaternary period, which began 300,000 years ago.
We previously wrote that there was “the scariest sound in the world”. It was made from an ancient Aztec death whistle.
Source: People Talk
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