Possible New Human Species Found

Scientists have discovered what may be a new species of human in China, calling them the "Red Deer Cave People."Discovered in 1989 by miners quarrying limestone near the city of Mengzi, the fossil remains haven't been studied until 2008. They lived in China at the end of the last great Ice Age from about 15,000 to 11,000 years ago, during a very cold period. They have a curious mixture of modern and archaic human traits but have yet to be classified as a new species. Among those archaic traits are the heavy brow ridges, thick skull bones, lack of a chin, large molar teeth, moderately sized brain and primitive features in the parietal lobes.Details of the scientists findings can be read in the journal PLoS ONE.

Hi DBlevins, thanks We seem to be seeing a mosaic of traits here. We also need to consider H.erectus and possible interbreeding, when we know that they migrated into this area (Java man and Dmanisi).Just looking at the pictures, it seems to me that the Longlin 1 skull ...

quote:

---

Background Later Pleistocene human evolution in East Asia remains poorly understood owing to a scarcity of well described, reliably classified and accurately dated fossils. Southwest China has been identified from genetic research as a hotspot of human diversity, containing ancient mtDNA and Y-DNA lineages, and has yielded a number of human remains thought to derive from Pleistocene deposits. We have prepared, reconstructed, described and dated a new partial skull from a consolidated sediment block collected in 1979 from the site of Longlin Cave (Guangxi Province). We also undertook new excavations at Maludong (Yunnan Province) to clarify the stratigraphy and dating of a large sample of mostly undescribed human remains from the site. Methodology/Principal Findings We undertook a detailed comparison of cranial, including a virtual endocast for the Maludong calotte, mandibular and dental remains from these two localities. Both samples probably derive from the same population, exhibiting an unusual mixture of modern human traits, characters probably plesiomorphic for later Homo, and some unusual features. We dated charcoal with AMS radiocarbon dating and speleothem with the Uranium-series technique and the results show both samples to be from the Pleistocene-Holocene transition: ∼14.3-11.5 ka. Conclusions/Significance Our analysis suggests two plausible explanations for the morphology sampled at Longlin Cave and Maludong. First, it may represent a late-surviving archaic population, perhaps paralleling the situation seen in North Africa as indicated by remains from Dar-es-Soltane and Temara, and maybe also in southern China at Zhirendong. Alternatively, East Asia may have been colonised during multiple waves during the Pleistocene, with the Longlin-Maludong morphology possibly reflecting deep population substructure in Africa prior to modern humans dispersing into Eurasia.

Figure 3. Longlin 1 partial skull (each bar = 1 cm).

---

... looks a lot like G or H from the Talk Origins lineup picture:

quote:

---

(G) Homo erectus, Dmanisi cranium D2700, 1.75 My
(H) Homo ergaster (early H. erectus), KNM-ER 3733, 1.75 My

---

The other skull shown is not so easy to compare, however they have a graph showing it with a higher forehead than erectus. They also say:

quote:

---

Vault thickness.

​

Vault thickness measurements are presented for LL 1 and MLDG 1704 and compared in Table 5. At bregma, LL 1 has a thick vault (10 mm), being most similar to the H. erectus (ERECT) mean (92 mm; z0.49). While its value is within one standard deviation unit of the EUEHS sample mean (73 mm; z0.94), it is significantly different to the NEAND mean (71 mm; z2.89, p0.006).

---

Certainly there has been time for some phyletic evolution if there is a continued branch of H.erectus in the neighborhood.It will be interesting to see how further information adds to the picture.Enjoy.Edited by RAZD, : finishEdited by RAZD, : addedEdited by RAZD, : added again

My initial thought on looking at that skull was very late erectus.Very late erectus has no business being that late in time if what we know is correct.Looks like we are learning something new.One of my evolution professors thought we would eventually find a "late European erectus" so perhaps he was correct.

There are a couple of things I thought about when reading the articles and looking at the morphology:Are these traits due to hybridization? Or a surviving population of later Homo pushed out of North Africa by Homo sapiens?If they are due to hybridization, could we expect that certain cultural traits might be carried forward? With a probable low population pressure from surrounding (probably dominant) cultures, could we see artifacts that share traits with earlier Homo erectus populations?I would expect that these examples more closely resemble cladogenesis and the further branching off of hominin species (consider the diversity within Africa prior to the migration of Homo sapiens), if they are not due to hybridization.I expect that a lot of questions would be resolved if they are able to extract some DNA from the remains.

Occums razor.As you say, H. erectus has no business being in that area at that time. But, we do know that Pleistocene H. sapiens was quite morphologically diverse prior to their expansion into Eurasia.It would be exciting to see a surviving population of divergent H. erectus, but I suspect not, considering the lack of H. erectus fossils within the transitional time. Of course, absence of evidence does not necessarily constitute evidence of absence.Here's hoping they extract some DNA.

I bet the Chinese are pleased, with their whole "divergent Chinese human evolution" thing.hopefully they can get some DNA.