A view of a skull from the Red Deer Cave People.
Posted on 03/14/2012 11:28:18 AM PDT by null and void
A view of a skull from the Red Deer Cave People.
Mysterious fossils of what may be a previously unknown type of human have been uncovered in caves in China, ones that possess a highly unusual mix of bygone and modern human features, scientists reveal.
Surprisingly, the fossils are only between 11,500 and 14,500 years old. That means they would have shared the landscape with modern humans when China's earliest farmers were first appearing.
Darren Curnoe (right) and Andy Herries (left) excavating at Maludong in 2008.
Jutting jaws and flaring cheeks
The Stone Age fossils are unusual mosaics of modern and archaic human anatomical features, as well as previously unseen characteristics. This makes them difficult to classify as either a new species or an unusual type of modern human.
This artist's reconstruction by Peter Schouten suggests what the Red Deer Cave People may have looked like.
Unique features of the Red Deer Cave people seen neither in modern nor known archaic lineages of humans include a strongly curved forehead bone, very broad nose and eye sockets, and very flat cheeks that flare widely to the sides to make space for large chewing muscles. In addition, the place where the lower jaw forms a joint with the base of the skull is unusually wide and deep.
The Red Deer Cave people might possibly even be related to a mysterious branch of humanity known as the Denisovans only discovered in the past two years, whose DNA suggests they were neither like us nor Neanderthals.
Ultimately, to see how closely or distantly related the Red Deer Cave people are to modern humans or even the Denisovans, the scientists want to extract and test DNA from the fossils.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
PS: Is that threatening 'smiley' even legal in the UK these days?
You’re arguing with people who think Jesus.
Futility.
Not sure what that means, but thanks.
At lot of these “new” species stories stink of phrenology.
Most of the geriatrics on FR are frightened and mired in the Bronze Age. Anything that disagrees with the idea that the earth is older than 6000 years is of the debbil.
/Personally, I think there are five distinct human strains.
//My anthropologist friends say seven. What do I know?
What does that mean? I have coins going back to 10,000 BC.
Fundamentalist Christians believe that the earth was created in 4004 BC.
Wiki up James Ussher.
The majority of Freepers believe this.
You don’t know much about religious kooks, hm?
You seem to know nothing about Christ or religion.
Thanks for playing.
Based on the reduced capacity of the cranial vault, I would consider this just another subspecies of Homo liberalensis.
Are you going to join the fight for open carry?
For smilies?
Oh, yes!
Open carry of firearms and smilies should be a human right not just a constitutional one.
LOL
“Most of the geriatrics on FR are frightened and mired in the Bronze Age. Anything that disagrees with the idea that the earth is older than 6000 years is of the debbil.”
What makes you think those people are old?
“Fundamentalist Christians believe that the earth was created in 4004 BC. Wiki up James Ussher. The majority of Freepers believe this.”
What are you, a leftard mole?
“You don’t know much about religious kooks, hm?”
I know a lot about secular kooks, and I’m posting to one now.
(But why post to a kook, I ask myself? I guess it’s just the stunning idiocy of the claim that “The majority of Freepers believe this.” Mouth-frothing lunacy of that stripe demands contradiction.)
“Open carry of firearms...should be a human right not just a constitutional one.”
Open carry of firearms *is* a human right.
Glad we agree on that.
:)
I hadn't heard that before. Interesting.
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