A 300,000-year-old skull discovered in China may belong to a new branch of the human family tree

A 300,000-year-old skull discovered in China could indicate the emergence of an unknown branch of the human family tree, the Journal of Human Evolution recently announced.

A discovery that could be decisive for human history. A 300,000-year-old skull was found in Hualongdong, China by a team of scientists. This information provided in a study to be published in Journal of Human Evolution For the month of September 2023 raises excitement and questions from the scientific community.

This skull called HDL 6, which was discovered in 2019 in the east of the country, was examined by a group of researchers. As a result, the skull, which is characterized by the absence of a chin, shows similarities with that of Homo sapiens, but also other characteristics that are older than those of modern humans, confirm Futura Science in his analysis.

baby skull

According to the report, the skull belonged to a 12- or 13-year-old boy. The scientists found an anomaly related to the mandibular bone, the size of which was considered “ancient” by the federation.

Failing to logically understand the age and genealogy of the found bone, the study signatories’ theory leads to the fact that this skull would have belonged to an individual living in China at the time. from the Middle Pleistocene (-774,000 and 129,000 BC), belonging to a subspecies of the genus Homo, our colleagues from Futura Sciences have deciphered.