What is Homo juluensis?
05-12-2024
09:31 AM
1 min read

Overview:
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.
About Homo juluensis:
- It is a new species of ancient humans with distinctively large skulls.
- The species, known as “big head people,” lived 300,000 years ago and survived in small groups across eastern Asia before disappearing around 50,000 years ago.
- Homo juluensis includes mysterious groups like the Denisovans—ancient human relatives whose histories are still being uncovered.
- Fossils attributed to H. juluensis, primarily consisting of facial and jaw remains, exhibit dental characteristics reminiscent of Neanderthals.
- Initial measurements indicate that their braincases were up to 30% larger than those of Homo sapiens.
- They hunted wild horses in small groups, and made stone tools and possibly processed animal hides for survival.
Key Facts about Neanderthals:
- They were an extinct relative of modern humans once found across Europe,extending into Central and Southwest Asia.
- Species: Homo neanderthalensis
- They are our closest extinct human relative.
- Current evidence from both fossils and DNA suggests that Neanderthal and modern human lineages separated at least 500,000 years ago.
- The last populations of Neanderthals are thought to have died out roughly 40,000 years ago, several thousand years or so after a wave of modern humans migrated deeper into Europe.
- Although they are long extinct, their genes are still present in modern human DNA.

Q1: Who are Denisovans?
Denisovans are an extinct species of hominid and a close relative to modern humans. They’re a recent addition to the human family tree—scientists first identified Denisovan remains from a cave in Siberia in 2010. Denisovans lived across a wide range of areas and conditions, from the cold mountains of Siberia and Tibet to the jungles of Southeast Asia during the last Ice Age. DNA evidence suggests Denisovans are related to both Neanderthals and modern humans, and may have interbred with both.
News: New, big-headed archaic humans discovered: Who is Homo juluensis?