Have scientists discovered a new species of primitive human?
Two teams of researchers have been asking that very question after analyzing mysterious fossils found in China and Taiwan. The fossils don’t seem to fit with any known hominin species–including modern humans, Homo erectus or Neanderthals. Instead, they may be the result of interbreeding between known species, or perhaps even belong to an unknown human species.
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Whatever or not the fossils end up belonging to a new species, they’re painting a radically new picture of human evolution in Asia, the researchers say. They suggest that before modern humans arrived in Asia around 50,000 to 40,000 years ago, a much more diverse group of ancient hominins lived there than previously thought.
“We need other skeletal parts to evaluate the degree of its uniqueness,”study co-author Dr. Yousuke Kaifu, a paleoanthropologist at Japan’s National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo, told Live Science. “The question of species can be effectively discussed after those steps.”
