Homo juluensis lived about 300,000 years ago in East Asia, hunting wild horses in small groups and making stone tools and possibly processing animal skins to survive before disappearing about 50,000 years ago.
A researcher from assured that he had discovered a new human species called Homo juluensis, which includes mysterious groups such as the Denisovans, little-known relatives.
Professor Christopher J. Bae of the Department of Anthropology in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Hawaii at Manoa has studied human ancestors throughout Asia for more than 30 years.
His recent research, published in helped clear up some of the confusion about the different types of ancient human-like species that coexisted in the region during the Late Middle Pleistocene and Early Late Pleistocene, a period roughly between 300,000 and 50,000 years ago.
Homo juluensis lived about 300,000 years ago in East Asia, hunting wild horses in small groups and making stone tools and possibly processing animal skins to survive before disappearing about 50,000 years ago.
The research proposes that the new species includes the enigmatic Denisovans, a population known primarily through DNA testing of some human remains found in Siberia and some fossils found in Tibet and Laos.
Further investigation is needed to verify this relationship, which is mainly based on the similarities between fossil jaws and teeth from these different sites, according to a statement about the study cited on Friday by the Europa Press agency.
Bae attributes the advance in the study to a new way of organizing fossil finds. With his team, he essentially created a clearer system for classifying and understanding these ancient human fossils from China, Korea, Japan and Southeast Asia.
“This study sheds light on a hominin fossil record that tends to include anything that cannot easily be attributed to Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalensis or Homo sapiens,” Bae highlighted.
“Although we started this project several years ago, we did not expect to be able to propose a new species of hominin (human ancestor) and then be able to organize the hominid fossils of Asia into different groups. Ultimately, this should help with communication scientific”, he assured.
This work is important because it helps scientists better understand the complex history of human evolution in Asia, filling some of the gaps in understanding human ancestors, according to the research authors.
