Image: Darren Curnoe
Posted on 03/15/2012 8:14:19 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Your family tree just got wider. Scientists have analyzed fossils found in China, and deemed them to be from a new human species unlike any ever identified before; say hello to your long-lost cousin.
The skull, originally unearthed in 1979 in the Guangxi Province of China, has only now been fully analyzed (talk about procrastination, right?). It turns out that it has thick bones, extremely prominent brow ridges, a very short, flat face, and also lacks our typically human chin. "In short, it is anatomically unique among all members of the human evolutionary tree," explains researcher Darren Curnoe to New Scientist.
What's more, despite its huge differences, in many ways the new species acted like other humans. There's evidence they cooked large deer in caves, for instance, which clearly separates them from apes, a finding reported in the research which appears in PLoS One.
The finer details of how the new species fits in to our family tree are a little fuzzy. One theory is that they were a new evolutionary line that evolved concurrently with our species, just like Neanderthals did. Another suggests that they could have been descendants of the Denisovan people who inhabbited Siberia. DNA testing might help solve the problem -- and help work out just how closely related we really are. [PLoS One and New Scientist; Image: Darren Curnoe]
(Excerpt) Read more at gizmodo.com ...
Image: Darren Curnoe
That’s not my cousin, that’s my ex!
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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Thanks gleeaikin. I found another source. :') |
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... monkey’s uncle ...
:’D
DEVO
Well, it sure beats building an entire skeleton out of a couple of finger bones and a carpal from an extinct species of peccary.
Carny folk had the scoop on this story 40 years ago. Then people started asking too many questions.
all based on one skull?
color me skeptical
Nancy Pelosi after her face collapsed from so much cosmetic surgery.
Do she gots a sister?
Now occupying a white hut near you.
I remember seeing that exibition years ago and reading an article by Ivan T Sanderson about how it may be the “proof” needed to be the Yeti or Sasquatch.
It was what appeared to be an ape man frozen in a block of ice in a chest type freezer.
That’s an ugly cousin.
All your kin are belong to us!
Last 10 years it would seem that many fossil finds are from
China....the bird dinosaur, and some ancient “men”...I think
one of the bird-dinosaur fossil was a farce, though.....
Where’s my tin foil hat, but I’m not sure so many major discoveries
could be in China. What about other landspaces on the earth?
Just thinking about the law of averages that’s all...
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