Hualongdong people

The Hualongdong people are extinct humans that lived in eastern China around 300,000 years ago during the late Middle Pleistocene.[1][2] Discovered by a research team led by Xiujie Wu and Liu Wu, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, from the Hualong Cave (pinyin: huálóng dòng; lit.'flowery/elegant dragon cave') in Dongzhi County at Anhui Province in 2006, they are known from about 30 fossils that belong to 16 individuals.[3] The first analysis of the skull fragments collected in 2006 suggested that they could be members of Homo erectus.[4] For some of the specimens, their exact position as a human species is not known. More complete fossils found in 2015 indicate that they cannot be directly assigned to any Homo species as they also exhibit archaic human features. They are the first humans in Asia to have both archaic and modern human features. They are likely a distinct species that form a separate branch in the human family tree.[5][6][7]

  1. ^ Lewis, Dyani (2023-09-18). "A new human species? Mystery surrounds 300,000-year-old fossil". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-023-02924-8. PMID 37723275. S2CID 262053793.
  2. ^ "This 300,000-year-old fossil could be a new branch in the human family tree". The Archaeologist. 2023-09-23. Retrieved 2023-09-25.
  3. ^ Wu, Xiu-Jie; Pei, Shu-Wen; Cai, Yan-Jun; Tong, Hao-Wen; Li, Qiang; Dong, Zhe; Sheng, Jin-Chao; Jin, Ze-Tian; et al. (2019-05-14). "Archaic human remains from Hualongdong, China, and Middle Pleistocene human continuity and variation". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 116 (20): 9820–9824. Bibcode:2019PNAS..116.9820W. doi:10.1073/pnas.1902396116. ISSN 1091-6490. PMC 6525539. PMID 31036653.
  4. ^ Xicheng, Gong; Zheng, Longting; Xing, Song; Wu, Xiujie; Tong, Haowen; Wu, Liu (2014-12-15). "Human Fossils Found from Hualong Cave, Dongzhi County, Anhui Province". Acta Anthropologica Sinica. 33 (4): 427. ISSN 1000-3193.
  5. ^ Khalil, Hafsa; Guy, Jack (2023-08-10). "300,000-year-old skull found in China unlike any early human seen before". CNN. Retrieved 2023-09-25.
  6. ^ Yirka, Bob (2023-08-04). "Remains found in China may belong to third human lineage". phys.org. Retrieved 2023-09-26.
  7. ^ Lewis, Dyani (2023-09-19). "Possible New Human Species Found through 300,000-Year-Old Jawbone Fossil". Scientific American. Retrieved 2023-09-26.