New Human Species Homo Bodoensis Believed to be Ancestor of Modern Humans - Buwikcom

In 1976, scientists discovered human fossils in Bodo D'ar, Ethiopia. This fossil that lived 600,000 years ago turned out to be a new human species and is a direct ancestor of modern humans. This new human species is named Homo bodoensis.

Reporting from Live Science, Friday (10/29/2021), the creature that lives in Africa is believed to help explain how human lineages migrate and interact around the world.

Although modern humans, Homo sapiens, are the only surviving human lineage, other human species have roamed Earth.

For example, scientists found that Flores, Indonesia was once home to the extinct species Homo floresiensis. H. floresiensis is known as the "hobbit" because of its short body.

To know, identify and decide whether one ancient human fossil is a known species or another species is often a matter of frequent debate.

For example, some researchers argue that the skeletal differences between modern humans and Neanderthals indicate the two were distinct species.

However, other scientists argue that because there is ample genetic evidence that modern humans and Neanderthals once interbred and had fertile and viable offspring, Neanderthals should not be considered a single species or a distinct species from modern humans.

In a new study published online in the journal Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues News, and Reviews, Thursday (28/10/2021), researchers analyzed human fossils dating back to about 774,000 to 129,000 years ago, or dating from the Chibanian period ( formerly known as the Middle Pleistocene period).

Previous studies suggested modern humans appeared during this time in Africa, while Neanderthals appeared in Eurasia. However, much about this key chapter in human evolution remains poorly understood.

Chibanian-era human fossils from Africa and Eurasia are often associated with one of two species: Homo heidelbergensis or Homo rhodesiensis. However, the two species have many different skeletal characteristics.

To help clear up all this confusion, the researchers are now proposing the existence of a new species, H. bodoensis.

The fossilized skull of H. bodoensis found in Bodo D'ar, Ethiopia, in 1976 is 600,000 years old. In addition, H. bodoensis includes many fossils previously identified as H. heidelbergensis or H. rhodesiensis.

The researchers suggest that H. bodoensis is a direct ancestor of H. sapiens, together forming distinct branches of the mysterious Neanderthal and Denisovans human family tree.

"Giving a new name to a species is always controversial," study co-author Mirjana Roksandic, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Winnipeg in Canada, told Live Science.

"However, if people start using it, it will always last."

In this new classification, H. bodoensis will describe most of the Chibania human fossils from Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean.

Many Chibanian human fossils from Europe will be reclassified as Neanderthals.

"We don't claim to be rewriting human evolution," Roksandic said.

Instead, the researchers sought to regulate the variation seen in early humans in a way that made it possible to discuss where it came from and what it represented.

"Those differences can help us understand the movements and interactions of human ancestors." In the future, the researchers want to see if they can find European specimens of H. bodoensis from the Chibanian, Roksandic said.

The scientists detailed their findings online Thursday (October 28) in the journal Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues News, and Reviews.