Ancient Chinese Skulls Connected with Denisovan Humans

STATES CHRONICLE – Scientists revealed some ancient Chinese skulls which appeared to be linked to Denisovan humans who went extinct during the last ice age. Researchers uncovered two 100,000-year-old skulls which may reveal more data about the evolution of humans. These remains may bring new evidence regarding the distribution and the behavior of early human populations in Eurasia.

The skulls indicate a large brain capacity and modest bone mounts of the brow and light cranial vaults. This description appears to be similar to one of the skulls of early modern humans. The heads displayed a broad and low braincase which rounds on the inferior head just like with Middle Pleistocene early Eurasian people.

The remains have semicircular structures in the inner ears. They display an arrangement of the posterior skull similar to one of Eurasian Neanderthals. All these characteristics revealed and put together indicate an intermixing of human ancestors. Erik Trinkaus, an anthropologist, and co-author of the new study, claimed that he prefers not to think of those fossils as pertaining to hybrids.

The process of hybridization implies the idea that all groups were separate and they had the chance to interact only once in a while. Nevertheless, these fossils suggest that these groups were not living separately. The evidence which was unearthed contradicts the idea that there existed separate lineages in distinct areas of the world. Back in 2010, specialists uncovered fragments of a finger bone in Siberia, inside a cave. Back then, they have alerted everyone, stating that they revealed the existence of an extinct human species from the last ice age.

However, the magazine Sciencemag speculated that these two skulls which were recently discovered might represent the first contact with a Denisovan individual. Chris Stringer, a paleoanthropologist at the Natural History Museum in London stated in an article in this magazine that some people may wonder whether the remains unearthed pertain to Denisovans.

Sciencemag quoted another paleoanthropologist, namely Maria Martinon-Torres, who stated that the ancient Chinese skulls fit the description of Denisovans, bringing an Asian flavor while being closely related to Neanderthals. The few Denisovan remains which were unearthed dated back somewhere between 100,000 to 500,000 years ago. Their DNA reveals that they were a species which was isolated for hundreds of thousands of years before being in contact with Neanderthals.

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