Scientists have discovered a new human species that went extinct 200,000 years ago in what is now China. Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of 16 individuals distinguished by large heads, broad skulls and enormous teeth.
Their head sizes, which were larger than those of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, led the team to name the new prehistoric species Homo juluensis.
The fossilized remains were found alongside thousands of artifacts, stone tools and animal bones that revealed more about their lives, such as that they were hunters and made clothing from animal skins.
Researchers believe the species lived in small groups that likely disappeared when modern humans began migrating to Europe and Asia 120,000 years ago.
Homo juluensis lived during a dramatic climate change, with an ice age that brought cooler and drier weather. Because Homo juluensis lived in small groups, this made them vulnerable to dangerous weather conditions that could kill them.
That’s one reason why the population density of Homo juluensis was probably never as high as it was when modern humans left Africa in large numbers, study co-author Christopher Bae. told Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post. They have genetically displaced native populations such as Neanderthals and Juluensis, he said.
Researchers from the University of Honolulu and the Chinese Academy of Sciences reported that the skulls of Homo juluensis were between 103 and 109 cubic centimeters in size. This compared to the cranial capacity of Neanderthals, which was 88 cubic centimeters, and that of Homo sapiens, which was 82 cubic centimeters.
However, Bae cautioned that the size difference does not necessarily mean ancient species were more intelligent than modern humans.
The researchers compared the fossils with Neanderthals and Denisovans, bone fragments of which were discovered in a cave in southern Siberia in 2008.
Their findings led researchers to believe that they were not related to the Neanderthals who lived in Europe and Asia about 40,000 years ago. However, they noted that the species Homo juluensis shares similarities with Denisovans due to similar dental features.
The scientists compared the biting surfaces where the lower and upper teeth touched during chewing and concluded that the surface of the molars was ‘almost identical’.
Bae said stone tools, artifacts and animal bones indicate that Homo juluensis ate and processed wild horses at the Xujiayao site where their fossils were found.
They hunted horses as a group and ate their meat, bone marrow and cartilage for sustenance, and also used their hides to make clothing that protected them from harsh winters.
The study, published in the magazine Naturesays the new species likely arose as a result of a combination of their genetics with Homo sapiens and migration to new locations during the late Quaternary period, which began 300,000 years ago.
This period was categorized by major shifts in climate change that caused repeated ice ages that led to the extinction of ancient human species.
