New species of human discovered – The special feature scientists spotted

Scientific discoveries have brought to light a new ancient human species in China, although this particular species has a rather strange feature that differentiates it from what we know today.

Discoveries often represent pivotal moments in science and history, whether it’s uncovering a hidden Mayan city or locating a galactic lake of water found billions of light years away.

But you don’t often expect to find an entirely new human species, but that’s exactly what Professor Christopher J. Bae of the University of Hawaii discovered when he was researching ancient anthropomorphic species in Asia.

Bae discovered that what he called “Homo juluensis” lived about 300,000 years ago in eastern Asia around areas such as present-day Xuchang, Xiahe and Xujiayao in China, among others.

This ancient, very human-like species probably hunted wild horses, made stone tools and worked with animal skins, according to the University of Hawai’i News.

However, what acts as a major disadvantage compared to other ancient human species such as Homo neanderthalensis and Homo erectus is their enormous head size.

Compared to the heads of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens – which measure about 88 and 82 cubic inches respectively – the skulls of Homo juluensis were found to measure about 109 cubic inches, which is a pretty significant increase.

The study’s evidence also shows similarities with the Denisovans, who existed in Asia between 285 and 25 thousand years ago, linking tooth structure and features to Homo juluensis.

What remains remarkable about this research, however, is not only that a new species of man was discovered, but that a new way of organizing the fossil record was discovered along with it.

Bae described it as a “clearer system” that allows them to better organize human fossils, likening it to organizing “an old family photo album where some of the pictures are blurry or hard to identify.”

Supporting the research published in the journal Nature Communications, Bae details:

“If anything, the east Asian record prompts us to recognize how complex human evolution is in general and really forces us to revise and re-examine our interpretations of various evolutionary models to better fit the growing fossil record.”

So this could not only be a major breakthrough in the field, but could also open the doors to further discoveries for both existing species and potentially new species.