An ancient skull unlike any human ever seen is baffling scientists and could rewrite the story of our evolution

Mon, 08/07/2023 - 08:02

A 3D scan of facial remains shows what we know of the skull uncovered in East Asia. This skull's top is reminiscent of modern humans, but its chin is more like an archaic human. — A computer generated image of the remains from the skull of HLD 6 (show in yellow).
Wu et al. PNAS 2019, doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1902396116

An ancient skull found in China is like nothing scientists have ever seen.
The teen's head shape doesn't fit with any of the early human relatives seen to date.
If it is an undiscovered human ancestor, it could rewrite the story of human evolution.

An ancient skull is baffling scientists because it looks unlike any known human ancestor.

The mystery 300,000-year-old skull of a child aged between 12 and 13 years old was first uncovered in Hualongdong in East China in 2019, alongside a leg bone.