They found the remains of a so far unknown human species

researchers from Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in Israel, a new kind of early human on the site Publisher Ramla, Dating back to 140 thousand to 120 thousand years This discovery was published in Science Magazine.

They indicate that human morphology Publisher Ramla It shares characteristics with both Neanderthals (especially the teeth and jaws) as is the case with ancient humans (especially the skull).

At the same time, this type of Homo is very different from modern humans, showing a A completely different skull structure, without a chin and very large teeth.

After the results of the study, researchers believe that the type to turn down Nesher Ramla is the source population from which most humans originated in the middle Pleistocene..

Moreover, they suggest that this group is The so-called “disappeared” population that intermarried with Homo sapiens Who arrived in the area around 200 thousand years.

Researchers

The research involved two teams of specialists, made up of an anthropology team from Tel Aviv University led by Israel Hershkowitz, Hela May and Rachel Sarrig of the Sackler School of Medicine, and the David Center for Research in Human Evolution and Bio-History. The Family Institute for Anthropology, located in the Steinhardt Museum at Tel Aviv University.

and another archaeological team headed by Yossi Zeidner of the Institute of Archeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Source

Homo Nesher Ramla was ancestral to both Neanderthals in Europe and ancient Homo groups in Asia.

The discovery of a new species of man is of great scientific interest. It allows us to give new meaning to previously discovered human fossils, Adding another piece to the puzzle of human evolution and understanding human migrations in the ancient world“.

One of the researchers, Israel Hershkowitz, said:

He asserts that “despite the fact that they lived a long time ago, at the end of the Middle Pleistocene (474 ​​thousand to 130 thousand years ago), the The people of Nesher Ramleh can tell us a wonderful story that reveals a lot about the development and lifestyle of their grandchildren.“.

For her part, Hela May asserts, that despite the absence of DNA in these fossils, “the discoveries of Nesher Ramla offer a solution to a great mystery in the evolution of Homo sapiens and the knowledge of how the genes of Homo sapiens permeated into the Neanderthal community that supposedly lived in Europe for a period Long before the arrival of Homo sapiens.

Geneticists who studied European Neanderthal DNA had previously suggested that there was a similar Neanderthal population that they named The “lost population” or “population X” that interbred with Homo sapiens more than 200,000 years ago.

Therefore, researchers suggest that the type Homo Nature Ramla This group can represent, until now disappeared from the human fossil record.

Moreover, they suggest that the humans of Nesher Ramleh are not the only ones of their kind discovered in the area, and that some human fossils were previously found in Israel, which have puzzled anthropologists for years, such as the fossils of Tabun Cave (160 thousand years), Zuteya Cave (250 thousand) belongs and Qassem Cave (400,000) to the same new human group that is now called the Ramle Homo nesher species.

Professor Gerhard Weber, Fellow of the University of Vienna, argues that The story of Neanderthal evolution will be told differently after this discovery.