Scientists Stunned by 300,000-Year-Old Skull Unlike Any Known Human Species

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00:00Scientists stunned by 300,000-year-old skull, unlike any known human species.

00:07Scientists reanalyzed a 300,000-year-old skull from China

00:11and found it doesn't fit Neanderthals, Denisovans, or any known human species,

00:16with signs of healed trauma.

00:21Designated Maba 1, the skull was found by farmers in 1958 in limestone caves near Maba Village,

00:27Shaoguan City, China, incomplete yet late middle Pleistocene, about 300,000 years old.

00:37In a new study, researchers who had previously examined the skull re-evaluated it and found

00:41features with glaring contradictions. Maba 1 is known for its Neanderthal-like face,

00:47but its neurocranium resembles multiple hominin taxa, making its classification controversial.

00:53A study in the American Journal of Biographical Anthropology states.

01:01During this research, the skull was reconstructed with micro-CT data, explains IFL Science.

01:07Images showed sinus channels connected to the parietal foramen by tubular structures,

01:12a feature very rare in Homo neanderthalensis, indicating Maba 1 wasn't Neanderthal.

01:18Internally, the frontal lobe looked more like Homo erectus than Homo sapiens.

01:26However, its cranial capacity matched Neanderthals and modern humans,

01:30while a thicker bregma and shorter frontal lobe gave conflicting signals.

01:38A dark lesion ran from mid-head to nose on the right side, but healing shows it wasn't fatal,

01:43possibly from a fall, a tumor, or untreated anemia.

01:50Ultimately, researchers recommended classifying Maba 1 as non-erectus,

01:54based on its distinct morphological features differing from Homo erectus.

01:59The internal structures of Maba 1 show a combination of morphological features

02:03found in various species, the team concluded.