Human fossils hint at new species

Originally posted by sickofitall2012
When I saw it, I immediately saw the same structures they have now. Nothing more than a slight variation. There are skull variations between all current humans as well.

I think the point is that the variations we see now are very likely CAUSED by interbreeding with other homo species... Good example is Neanderthal DNA which is found in most people other than those from African descent LINK

reply to post by Versa


That seems to be were this would be going, interbreeding with neanderthals and Denisovans would give us, in the 19th century way of thinking, our three main 'races' . Now the search will be for people who have Denisovan and Neanderthal genes.....plus any other guys who might have survived long enough to contributed genetics - perhaps the hobbits?

Another link to an anthroplogy blog

Blog

This points to a few other papers and articles on similar skulls

PDF on a skull found in Vietnam

More images of the skull and where it was found

reply to post by Hanslune


thanks for the extra links, the author of the blog seems to doubt the validity of any claims that its a new species of hominid...

I guess we wont know for sure until they manage to get a DNA sample tested...

hopefully one of those pesky missing links lol
i would like to see a facial reconstruction ... seems like a hybrid between pre homoerectus and us

reply to post by Versa


This might be the red deer cave peoples ancestor,

Sangiran 17,"Pithecanthropus VIII", Homo erectus Discovered by Sastrohamidjojo Sartono in 1969 at Sangiran on Java. This consists of a fairly complete cranium, with a brain size of about 1000 cc. It is the most complete erectus fossil from Java. This skull is very robust, with a slightly projecting face and huge flaring cheekbones. It has been thought to be about 800,000 years old, but a recent dating has given a much older figure of nearly 1.7 million years. If the older date is correct, it means Homo erectus migrated out of Africa much earlier than previously thought.

The source

www.talkorigins.org...

reply to post by punkinworks10


The key points, or summary of Punkinworks excellent link is

Despite this, there is little consensus on what our family tree is. Everyone accepts that the robust australopithecines (aethiopicus, robustus and boisei) are not ancestral to us, being a side branch that left no descendants. Whether H. habilis is descended from A. afarensis, africanus, both of them, or neither of them, is still a matter of debate. It is possible that none of the known australopithecines is our ancestor.

A number of new genera and species have been discovered within the last decade (Ar. ramidus, Au. amanensis, Au. bahrelghazali, Au. garhi, Orrorin, Kenyanthropus, Sahelanthropus) and no consensus has yet formed on how they are related to each other or to humans. It is generally accepted that Homo erectus is descended from Homo habilis (or, at least, some of the fossils often assigned to habilis), but the relationship between erectus, sapiens and the Neandertals is still unclear. Neandertal affinities can be detected in some specimens of both archaic and modern sapiens.

We have a line of progression but where and how that lines goes is not presently known