Researchers have identified a new species of ancient humans, which they have named Homo juluensis, meaning "big head," based partly on a very large skull found in China.
A diagram shows hominin sites in central Asia along with the fossils discovered there. (Image credit: C. Bae and X. Wu)
The newly named H. juluensis is based on fossils that date to between 220,000 and 100,000 years ago from Xujiayao and Xuchang, a site in central China. In 1974, excavators discovered more than 10,000 stone artifacts and 21 hominin fossil fragments representing about 10 different individuals at Xujiayao. All of the cranial bones show that these hominins had large brains and thick skulls. The four ancient skulls from Xuchang are also very large and similar to those of Neanderthals.
