Sometime between 200,000 and 160,000 years ago, a group of early hominids who lived in what is now northern China were pursuing their next meal. They were skilled, organised hunters, having mastered primitive tools and weapons similar to spears that they used to kill wild horses.
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They not only ate the meat, bone marrow and cartilage, but even made clothing from the animal hides to help them survive the harsh winters. The sturdy individuals also had a distinctive physical feature – relatively large heads with low, wide skulls that accommodated sizeable teeth.
“That is a very substantial difference between modern Homo sapiens, Neanderthal and this new proposed species,” said Christopher Bae, a professor of anthropology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and one of two scientists who have dubbed the ancient group Homo juluensis – a new species. Ju lu means huge head in Chinese.
“When you think about Homo juluensis, you are looking at a fairly robust population of hominids,” said Bae, who co-authored an article on the group in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications published on November 2.
However, Bae cautioned that a larger cranium did not necessarily mean higher intelligence.
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The average cranial capacity of modern adult Homo sapiens is about 1,350 cubic centimetres (81 cubic inches), while Neanderthals, who existed until about 40,000 years ago, had a cranial capacity of about 1,450 cubic centimetres. Homo juluensis had craniums that measured between 1,700 and 1,800 cubic centimetres.