The discovery of an early modern human skeleton in China dated
as about 40,000 years old has helped shed more light on the history
of human development.
The new finding, by researchers at the Institute of Vertebrate
Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology affiliated to the Chinese
Academy of Sciences and Washington University, is published this
week online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences.
The researchers examined a skeleton recovered in 2003 from the
Tianyuan Cave, Zhoukoudian, near Beijing. The skeleton dates
back 42,000 to 38,500 years, making it the oldest modern human
skeleton from eastern Eurasia, and one of the oldest modern humans
from the region, said the researchers.
Most of its features match those of modern humans, while a
minority of features is more like late archaic humans.
Based on this finding, the researchers have added their voices
to those who deny the African dispersal theory, a belief that human
life began from a simple spread of modern humans eastward from
Africa. Slightly younger skeletons have also been found in eastern
Eurasia with similar mixes of features.
The researchers said the Tianyuan skeleton also provides data on
many aspects of its biology and will be useful for reconstructing
the transition from archaic to modern humans in eastern
Eurasia.
(China Daily April 3, 2007)