For the first clip ever , an antediluvian fossil from our genusHomohas been get word in Taiwan . Until now , ancient Asiatic hominins ( that ’s us and our ascendent ) have mostly been found in China , Indonesia , and further west . That means this dodo , describedinNature Communicationsthis week , will start to fill up a braggart geographical gap in the Asian fogey record .
While investigator are n’t certain if it belonged to an nameless primitive species or one we have sex little about , it ’s starting to look like there were multiple evolutionary line of descent in easterly Asia before anatomically modern humans arrived in the orbit around 40,000 years ago .
A squad led byChun - Hsiang Chang of Taiwan ’s National Museum of Natural ScienceandYousuke Kaifu of Japan ’s National Museum of Nature and Scienceexamined a dodo jawbone that was dredged from the bottom of the Penghu submarine channel 25 kilometers ( 15.5 miles ) off the westerly shore of Taiwan by a fisherman ’s net . The area was part of the mainland during periods of low ocean - level . Theteam was unable to see the submaxilla directly , but it was discovered with the fossil of an extinct hyena , which indicated that it was young than 450,000 geezerhood old . Most probably , the team think , this Taiwanese archaic hominin — dub Penghu 1 — hold up late , between 190,000 and 10,000 years ago .
During the Pleistocene epoch that ended around 11,700 age ago , a reach of ancient hominins had made their homes in Asia . Long - livedHomo erectuslived in Java and China , the “ hobbit”Homo floresiensisoccupied Indonesia , while Neanderthals and a mysterious human - relative holler the Denisovans resided in part of western Asia and Russia . This new racy modest jaw with large , primitive - wait teeth is similar in construction to a 400,000 - class - old hominin fossil that likely belong toHomo erectus , excavate in Hexian in easterly China . However , " we need other skeletal parts to measure the arcdegree of its uniqueness,“Kaifu tells Live Science . " The question of species can be effectively discussed after those steps . "
There ’s a general vogue that jaw and tooth size have deoxidize over time during PleistoceneHomoevolution , according to anews press release . However , the new Taiwan submaxilla is likely even more robust than chronologically sr. populations ofHomo erectusfrom Java around 800,000 year ago as well as northern China from 750,000 to 400,000 years ago — suggesting a different evolutionary origin than that of what we consider classicHomo erectus .
And did they ever interact with our species ? " The usable evidence at least does not shut the possibility that they last until the appearance ofHomo sapiensin the region,”Kaifu tells Discovery News . “ And it is tempt to excogitate about their possible contact . ”
