In East China, specifically at the site called Hualongdong, scientists conducted an excavation and discovered fossils pointing to a possible third human lineage. To understand these fossils better, they performed two types of assessments: a morphological assessment on the shape and structure and a geometric assessment on the measurements and angles.
Paleontologists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with researchers from Xi’an Jiaotong University, the University of York, the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the National Research Center on Human Evolution concluded that, as published in the Journal of Human Evolution, there previously existed a formerly unknown human ancestor.
In their study, the team examined the fossilized remains of a jawbone, a part of a skull, and several hominin leg bones. These fossils date back to a staggering three hundred thousand years ago.
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The research team found that these features shared similarities with both present-day humans and Late Pleistocene hominids. However, the absence of a chin indicated a closer relationship with older species. Hence, there is a possibility of an unknown human lineage.
