Probably, some of the oldest relatives of modern humans existed until relatively recent times, remaining almost unchanged. This is the conclusion reached by researchers who studied the bones found in the Deer Cave in China.
These bones have been controversial among anthropologists for years. When they were discovered in a Chinese cave back in 1979, their age was estimated at 14 thousand years. At the same time, the analysis of these bones showed that they could belong to the species Homo habilis (Homo habilis) or early Homo erectus (Homo habilis). It turned out that the hominids who lived relatively recently belonged to the most ancient species of the genus Homo, which, as it was believed, died out hundreds of thousands of years ago.
A new study by experts from Australia and China has shown that the so-called Deer Cave man, in all likelihood, is not the ancestor of modern humans, but a representative of one of the dead-end branches of Homo development, Inverse reports.
Scientists who published their study in the journal PLoS One drew attention to the hominid femur. As it turned out, in its structure, it is typical for even more ancient people than the skull from the same cave, which was studied earlier. It was also possible to confirm that the people from the Deer Cave were not tall and their mass, in all likelihood, did not exceed 50 kilograms.
Apparently, representatives of an extinct species studied by experts, and modern people not only lived at the same time, but interacted with each other and, probably, even interbred.
To test their findings, scientists plan to continue studying other human bones from the Deer Cave. According to them, the best test would be DNA analysis of hominids, but hardly suitable samples of their DNA have survived to this day, so it should not be counted on.
“We assume that the reason why modern man remains the only representative of Homo was a combination of three factors. Firstly, 15 thousand years ago, a period of significant climate changes began, which lasted for five thousand years. Secondly, the same time was marked by a significant increase in the number of people on Earth. Finally, thirdly, modern humans switched to agriculture, while other hominids continued to practice hunting and gathering,”muses David Cournot of the University of New South Wales, one of the authors of the study.
Dmitry Erusalimsky
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