New Human Species Extinct 200,000 Years Ago With Distinct Physical Traits Discovered
Some of the earliest ancient humans are the Neanderthals and homo sapiens, who lived in places where the origins of humans are constantly being discovered.
Over the years, as more fossils are unearthed, questions whether there may be more ancient lineages than the main groups of humans have been grouped into, exist. This may very well be the case as a new human species, extinct 200,000 years ago with distinct physical traits, has been discovered.
A group called Homo juluensis has been discovered in East Asia. These ancient people had very distinct characteristics, including craniums that are quite a bit larger than those of Neanderthals and homo sapiens.
To put into perspective, Homo juluensis had a skull that measured between 103 and 109 cubic inches. Neanderthals had skulls that were 88 cubic inches and homo sapiens have skulls that are 82 cubic inches.
This does not mean that there was more forward-thinking on the part of Homo juluensis than other species of humans. It simply meant that as the species evolved, the cranium did as well.
What The Unearthed Artifacts Said About Homo Juluensis
The artifacts that were discovered with the 16 skeletons belonging to Homo juluensis showed that the species of humans were skilled hunters that lived in small groups. It is believed that the ancient humans worked together to hunt wild horses, not only for sustenance, but for other uses as well.
From what archaeologists learned from the site where Homo juluensis was discovered, nothing from the horse was left unused. Be it consuming meat and marrow or using the hides as clothes and as covers to stay warm during frigid winters during the Late Quaternary glacial period, nothing went to waste.
As a result of finding ancient humans like Homo juluensis, archaeologists are having to rethink what they previously believed about evolution given the evidence new fossil discoveries are presenting.
According to co-author, Christopher Bae, whose study was published in Nature Communications, the reality of human evolution is far more “complex” than once believed.
“The eastern Asian record is prompting us to recognize just how complex human evolution is more generally and really forcing us to revise and rethink our interpretations of various evolutionary models to better match the growing fossil record.” – Christopher Bae
Despite being such a close group of people, Homo juluensis would eventually go extinct, allowing other species of humans to continue on with the evolutionary process.
What Caused Homo Juluensis To Go Extinct
Unfortunately, the very thing that helped Homo juluensis be so successful with their hunting was also likely their demise.
Because Homo juluensis lived in such small groups, their ability to survive cold winters or times when food was scarce was more difficult than it was for groups with larger populations.
This may have led those who did survive to interact with other species of people traveling through East Asia and potentially mated with them, which would explain the similarities between Homo juluensis and other species of people in the region.
The Denisovans were a group of extinct humans who also lived in East Asia as well as Siberia. The group lived between 200,000 and 50,000 years ago and shares similarities with Homo juluensis.
Like Homo juluensis, Denisovans had large teeth and a larger flattened head than Neanderthals. More interesting still, when the teeth collected from the separate archaeological sites for Homo juluensis and Denisovans were compared, the two had similar bite marks.
This has led Bae and his co-authors to suggest in their study that Denisovans are not a species of ancient people but a generic group of which small sub-species can be distinguished.
“Recent research initiatives in China, and broader eastern Asia, are showing clearly that multiple hominin lineages were present during the Late Quaternary.” – Christopher Bae
Whether Homo juluensis went extinct because they could no longer exist in the elements in East Asia or if more genetically dominant groups eventually caused the species to no longer exist has yet to be determined. In order to come to conclusions on this, more DNA testing is needed as are more specimens to compare. Therefore, it could be some time before Homo juluensis is considered its own prehistoric species accepted by the scientific community at large.
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