New Human Species

Scientists have discovered a new human species.

Only one species of hominin exists on the planet today, and that’s Homo sapiens. But throughout more geologically recent Earth history, the human family was a complex tableaux of members. Over the years, scientists have tried to get a clearer picture of that prehistoric story by excavating ancient human sites around the world.

Now anthropologists are illustrating a previously unknown chapter of that story with the introduction of a formerly uncatalogued human species, Homo juluensis.

Homo juluensis means “big head”. This species thrived in eastern Asia from about 300,000 years ago to around 50,000 years ago but then died out. According to the researchers, they likely hunted wild horses, fashioned stone tools, and processed animal hides to survive frigid winters. The breakthrough for discovering this possibly new species came when a team began devising a new system for organizing fossil evidence. They did not expect to propose a new human ancestor species and then to organize hominin fossils from Asia into different groups. But their study clarifies a hominin fossil record that has tended to include anything that could not easily be assigned to Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalensis, or Homo sapiens.

One possible member of the Homo juluensis species isn’t exactly a newcomer. Denisovans were first identified in 2010 by way of DNA extracted from a young girl’s fingerbone found in Siberia, but have not been given a species classification. They could belong to this new species.

Homo juluensis may also solve another mystery of the Xujiayao hominin fossils. These fossils have long perplexed researchers, as the remains display a mix of Homo erectus and Homo sapiens features. These remains have been confused for a variety of taxonomic representations, but scientists note that differences in the (big) cranium, the teeth, jaws, and a few other features indicate a new species. These fossil remains include Penghu 1 (jawbone), Xiahe (mandible), Xuchang (partial crania), and a variety of Denisova fossils.

Although this is a convincing argument that these particular specimens belong to a previously unknown human species, more research is needed. But since these fossils still defy any other species classification, it may only be a matter of time before the human tribe increases by at least one species.