Red Deer Cave people

Red Deer Cave People
Temporal range: Late Pleistocene,
0.0145–0.0115 Ma
↓
Reconstructed skull
Longlin 1, a partial skull
Scientific classification (disputed)
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Hominidae
Tribe: Hominini
Genus: Homo
Species: Undetermined

The Red Deer Cave People were the most recent known prehistoric Hominin population that did not look like modern humans. Fossils dated to between 14,500 and 11,500 years old were found in Red Deer Cave and Longlin Cave in China. Having a mix of archaic and modern features, they are (tentatively) thought to be a separate species of humans that persisted until recent times and became extinct without contributing to the gene pool of modern humans.[1] Evidence shows large deer were cooked in the Red Deer Cave, giving the people their name.[2]

Discovery

Mandibles

In 1979, the partial skull of a cave dweller was found in Longlin Cave in the Guangxi region of China. Additional human remains were excavated from Maludong ("Red Deer Cave"; Chinese: 马鹿洞) in Yunnan Province.[3] Fossils of the Red Deer Cave dwellers were indirectly radiocarbon dated between 14,500 and 11,500 years of age, using charcoal found in the fossil deposits.[4] It is thought that during this period all other prehistoric human species, including Neanderthals and Homo floresiensis had died out.

Anatomy

In spite of their relatively recent age, the fossils exhibit features of more primitive humans. The Red Deer Cave dwellers had distinctive features that differ from modern humans, including: flat face, broad nose, jutting jaw with no chin, large molars, prominent brows, thick skull bones, and moderate-size brain.[5]

Status as a separate species

Although the physical features of the Red Deer Cave people suggest that they may be a previously undiscovered species of prehistoric human, the scientists who discovered them are reluctant to classify them as a new species.[5] Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London has suggested that they could be a result of mating between Denisovans and modern humans.[2] Other scientists remain skeptical, suggesting that the unique features are within the variations expected for Homo sapiens populations.[5]

Recent studies based on a long femur fossil would seem to indicate a close relationship to ancient humans such as Homo habilis or Homo erectus.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Deborah Smith (2012-03-15). "Scientists stumped by prehistoric human whose face doesn't fit". Brisbane Times.
  2. 1 2 Barras, Colin (2012-03-14). "Chinese human fossils unlike any known species". New Scientist. Retrieved 2012-03-15.
  3. ↑ Curnoe, D.; Xueping, J.; Herries, A. I. R.; Kanning, B.; Taçon, P. S. C.; Zhende, B.; Fink, D.; Yunsheng, Z.; Hellstrom, J.; Yun, L.; Cassis, G.; Bing, S.; Wroe, S.; Shi, H.; Parr, W. C.; Shengmin, H.; Rogers, N. (2012). Caramelli, David, ed. "Human remains from the Pleistocene-Holocene transition of southwest China Suggest a complex evolutionary history for East Asians". PLoS ONE. 7 (3): e31918. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0031918. PMC 3303470Freely accessible. PMID 22431968.
  4. ↑ Curnoe, D; Xueping, J; Herries, AI; et al. (2012). "Human remains from the Pleistocene-Holocene transition of southwest China suggest a complex evolutionary history for East Asians". PLoS ONE. 7: e31918. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0031918. PMC 3303470Freely accessible. PMID 22431968.
  5. 1 2 3 James Owen (2012-03-14). "Cave Fossil Find: New Human Species or "Nothing Extraordinary"?". National Geographic News.
  6. ↑ Curnoe, Darren; Ji, Xueping; Liu, Wu; Bao, Zhende; Taçon, Paul S. C.; Ren, Liang. "A Hominin Femur with Archaic Affinities from the Late Pleistocene of Southwest China". PLOS ONE. 10 (12): e0143332. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0143332. PMC 4683062Freely accessible. PMID 26678851.
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