Fossil teeth show earliest sign of people in southern Asia
This photo provided by the journal Nature shows human lower teeth found in the Fuyan Cave of Hunan province in southern China. Scientists analyzed modern human teeth that they unearthed in Fuyan Cave in southern China’s Hunan province, which is part of a system of caves more than 32,300 square feet (3,000 square meters) in size.
Modern humans may have occupied southern China at least 30,000 years earlier than previously thought.
Before this, the earliest well-dated fossils firmly linked to our species in southern Asia were only around 45,000 years old.
The first appearance of humans in the eastern Mediterranean and East Asia has remained a mystery due to lack of fossil evidence.
Liu Wu from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and lead author of the paper in Nature, said, “This is a milestone discovery because the species we found in the Fuyuan Cave is from well developed modern humans, nearly identical to living humans”.
This discovery yields new information about the dispersal of modern humans from Africa to the rest of the world, and could shed light onhow modern humans and Neanderthals interacted, the scientists added. However, recent research hinted thatmodern humans might have begun their march across the globe as early as 130,000 years ago.
But given the implications, he said, the researchers must present a more detailed documentation of the geological setting of the find, which is crucial for the age estimate.Shara Bailey, an expert on the evolution of human teeth at New York University who also didn’t participate in the research, said a few teeth appear to have cavities, which is unusual for humans living so long ago. Instead, they more closely resemble teeth from contemporary modern humans.
The earliest remains of Homo sapiens in Europe date back to around 40,000 to 45,000 years ago, while in Asia, the latest discovery puts them in at 80,000 to 120,000 years ago.
Robin Dennell from the Department of Archaeology at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, said of the teeth discovery, “More revelations about our species’ history can surely be expected from southern China”.