throughout time scientists have managed to uncover about 6,000 early human fossils ranging from skulls to tea for some of these fossils it was a breeze researchers could instantly identify them as belonging to say the Neanderthals however when it came to others things got a bit trickier some fossils just didn't fit into any existing categories so what categories of prehistoric humans do we actually know about H well up until recently we recognized eight different species of early humans one of these is Homo habilis which means handyman you'll recall that homo is Latin for human they resembled
regular primates but were pivotal in our Evolution they were the first to create stone tools which significantly aided their daily activities such as butchering next up we have homo rodolphus these guys were larger than homo habil and boasted bigger brains but they were still quite distant from modern humans for example even though the neurological structure of their brains was becoming more complex they were probably not capable of using any form of actual spoken language then came Homo erectus the first to walk upright followed by homo antecessor which is considered the last common ancestor of modern
humans and Neanderthals along with a host of other homo species Meanwhile we're still piecing together the story of the enigmatic dosant our knowledge of homo NTI is pretty limited too since it was only discovered in 2013 and it is species number eight interestingly Nal means star in the soo language because they were found in a cave called Rising Star scientists were taken aback by them everything suggested they were around 2 million years old but after closer examination and some tests it turns out that the N species is much younger between 236 and 335,000 years old
their hands were adapted to making tools yet no tools have been found nearby long story short they're a puzzling species and there's still so much more to learn about them so even though today we have only one human species on our planet homos sapiens we continue to discover ancient species that are long gone now you might wonder why researchers study these extinct species the truth is they need this knowledge to piece together the intricate Narrative of our prehistoric past in 2024 a significant Discovery emerged the ninth human species named homo galenus which translates to large
headed researchers suggest that this species hunted Wild Horses crafted stone tools and processed animal HIDs to survive harsh Winters a researcher from the UN University of Hawaii noted that the discovery of this potential new species came about while his team was developing a novel method for classifying fossil evidence interestingly one potential representative of homo gilo insis isn't entirely new to science the den Events first identified in 2010 through DNA analysis of a finger bone found in Siberia have yet to be classified as a distinct species some scientists propose that they may actually belong to the
newly identified group these bigheaded individuals could help shed light on the long-standing Mysteries surrounding these hominin fossils which have puzzled researchers due to their mixed characteristics of homo erectus and Homo sapiens you see sometimes it's tough to call a spade a spade when you don't even know what a spade looks like you get the idea many Unsolved Mysteries linger simply because scientists haven't had this crucial bigheaded piece of the puzzle so theoretically we modern humans could also be considered a bit of homo julu insis you don't believe me well watch this we need to consider
two key facts for this equation first there are the Denise Evin a group we might refer to as homo juluis from a scientific perspective yeah this is just a theory proposed by some researchers but let's roll with it for now and pretend it's a fact second it's important to know that the denans interbred with the ancestors of modern-day melanesians these folks inhabit areas ranging from New Guinea to the Fiji islands and carry between 4 and 6% denin DNA now you might not personally have those genes unless you've been tested of course but the key takeaway
here is that there are modern humans today who share genetic links with a denin or homog ginesis or big heads if you prefer now that all sounds pretty plausible let's unpack step by step how it happened researchers have uncovered this type of ancient human known as the denans based on skeletal remains found in Siberia these ancient humans coexisted and interbred with modern humans adding yet another layer to our understanding of human evolution named after the Siberian caves where their fossils were discovered the denans are believed to have roamed widely across Eurasia evidence indicates that the
nans lived alongside neanderthals and interacted with early Homo sapiens possibly around 50,000 years ago a team of scientists successfully sequenced a complete genome from these ancient homonyms using nuclear DNA extracted from a finger bone this discovery reveals that at least four distinct human groups existed during the time when anatomically modern humans began migrating Out of Africa alongside modern humans and Neanderthals we now have to consider the denans and another small human species from Indonesia often referred to as The Hobbit when discussing our evolutionary history one intriguing question that arises is why denivan genes are predominantly
found in modern melanesians yet absent from other Eurasian populations remember that 4 to 6% one hypothesis suggests that interactions between the den Evans and early modern humans were limited and brief especially as humans migrated throughout southeast Asia into melanesia scientists speculate that only a small number of the denans may have interbred with a larger group of modern humans this could explain how the denivan genes made their way into the gene pool despite the likelihood of infrequent encounters anyway the more scientists dig into our past the more fascinating things they uncover about our ancestors take neanderthals
for example did you know these guys were responsible for creating the very first piece of art ever I had no idea but a 2018 study of ancient cave art in Spain revealed what are now considered the oldest known artistic Creations we used to think neanderthals lack the cognitive skills needed for art but it turns out they were actual art Pioneers not only did they create art but they also seem to have invented hashtags thousands of years before Christmas Cena did it in 2007 right I'm kidding but you'll soon get why I mention hashtags the artworks
found in several caves in Spain include simple hand stencils a ladderlike drawing and various other markings until recently these prehistoric pieces were believed to have been made by early humans but new testing methods suggest they're much older than we thought above all the earliest recognized Neanderthal artwork which looks like a hashtag was discovered in jalter back in 2014 to determine the age of these artworks scientists employed Advanced dating techniques using e-harmony and match.com oops wait a minute wrong dating techniques they actually used uranium and thorium radioisotopes instead of the traditional carbon dating once the necessary
tests were completed they confirmed the art was approximately 65,000 years old 15,000 years older than the previously oldest known art from Indonesia at that time the only species around were neanderthals so it's safe to say they were behind these creations modern humans didn't arrive in Spain until about 20,000 years later ay it was a long commute that rules them out as the hashtag creators the hand stencil was likely created intentionally with the artist preparing the pigment and applying it over their hand plus the caves also contain a collection of painted sea shells that are an
astonishing 115,000 years old some of these shells have been drilled suggesting they might have been used as jewelry some Specialists argue that the fact neanderthals created art hence that they might have also had some form of spoken language so maybe it's time we fully Embrace neanderthals as part of our lineage they're humans too just a different branch of our family tree while these findings are intriguing some experts remain skeptical about the new dating methods claiming they're not entirely convinced hey what do you think share your thoughts in the comments that's it for today so hey
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