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Ancient skull found in China rewrites human history

• 'Dali skull' is similar to the earliest known fossil of our species, found in Morocco
• This suggests modern humans aren't descended solely from African ancestors
• Instead, some early humans migrated to Eurasia before Homo sapiens existed
• Here they evolved some modern human traits, and then moved back to Africa
• In Africa the Asian early humans interbred with native populations
• The intermixing eventually led to Homo sapiens, which spread around the world
• Modern human DNA therefore came from both African and Eurasian ancestors

By Harry Pettit For Mailonline

Published: 05:15 EST, 16 November 2017 | Updated: 05:16 EST, 16 November 2017

A 260,000-year-old skull from China could rewrite the history of human evolution.

A new analysis has found the skull is remarkably similar to the earliest known fossil of our species,found 6,200 miles (10,000 km) away in Morocco in June.

This suggests modern humans aren't solely descended from Africans as scientists previously thought.

Instead, small groups of early human ancestors first migrated to Eurasia sometime before 200,000 years ago, where they evolved modern traits in east Asia.

From here, some of the Asian early humans moved back to Africa, where they mingled with native populations.

Homo sapiens evolved from these interbred groups and spread around the world, meaning modern human DNA came from both African and Asian ancestors. 

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A 260,000-year-old skull from China (right) is remarkably similar to modern human remains in Morocco (left). The find has sparked a new theory (in purple) which suggests our DNA did not come solely from Africa ancestors, as researchers have previously suggested (green)

WAS THE ORIGIN OF MAN MULTI-REGIONAL?

One theory on the origin of man suggests that modern humans developed in multiple regions around the world.

The theory claims that groups of a pre-human ancestors made their way out of Africa and spread across parts of Europe and the Middle East.

From here the species developed into modern humans in several places at once.

According to the multi-regional theory, different races arose in different regions as a result of natural selection as these populations evolved into modern humans.

The argument is supported by fossil evidence of early and pre-human ancestors found across Europe and the Middle East over the past 100 years.

It is also supported by a new analysis of a 260,000-year-old skull found in Dali County in China's Shaanxi Province.

The skull suggests that early humans migrated to Asia, where they evolved modern human traits and then moved back to Africa. 

Most experts believe that our species arose in Africa around 200,000 years ago based on fossil evidence from the continent.

DNA analysis of modern humans suggests we are all descended from a single group that left Africa within the last 120,000 years ago and migrated across the globe.

This means all of our genes come from early humans from Africa, except for a few gained by interbreeding with human-like ancestors such as Neanderthals.

But a 260,000-year-old skull found in Dali County in China's Shaanxi Province may rewrite this long-held theory.

The 'Dali skull', uncovered in 1978, is remarkably complete, with its face and brain case still in tact.

Researchers describing the skull in 1979 thought it belonged to the early human species Homo erectus.

But a new analysis, from experts at Texas A&M University in College Station and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, finds it shares many characteristics with modern humans. 

The team say the remains are remarkably similar to Homo sapiens skulls found in the 1960s at the Jebel Irhoud cave in Morocco.

They believe the Dali skull had a Homo sapiens-like face but with a more primitive brain case. 

Study coauthor Professor Sheela Athreya, from Texas A&M, told MailOnline: 'This was surprising because we expected Dali to exhibit similarities only to other Chinese specimens, particularly the ones that came before it (Homo erectus) and after it (Homo sapiens).

'But it ended up being more similar to these fossils from North Africa and the Levant, all of which are classified as early Homo sapiens.

'This further points to a complex process that involved much of Eurasia in the evolution of our species, rather than a single event, single point of origin, and single process.' 

The 'Dali skull' (pictured), uncovered in 1978, is remarkably complete, with its face and brain case still in tact. Researchers describing the skull in 1979 thought it belonged to the early human species Homo erectus

A new analysis finds the Dali skull (pictured) shares many characteristics with modern humans. Researchers suggest that early humans migrated from Africa to Asia, where they evolved Homo sapiens-like faces before moving back to Africa

THE MOROCCAN REMAINS 

In June, archaeologists discovered the world's oldest Homo sapiens fossils, alongside stone tools and animal bones, at Jebel Irhoud, Morocco.

The fossils date back to 300,000 years ago, and are 100,000 years older than any other Homo sapiens fossil discovered.

The findings push back the origins of our species, and show that by about 300,000 years ago, important changes in our biology and behaviour had taken place across most of Africa.

Previously, the oldest Homo sapiens fossils were known from the site of Omo Kibish in Ethiopia, dated to 195,000 years ago. 

In June, archaeologists discovered the world's oldest Homo sapiens fossils (pictured), alongside stone tools and animal bones, at Jebel Irhoud, Morocco. The fossils date back to 300,000 years ago, and are 100,000 years older than any other Homo sapiens fossil

An international research team, led by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany and the National Institute for Archaeology and Heritage in Rabat, Morocco uncovered the bones.

Professor Jean-Jacques Hublin, who led the study, said: 'We used to think that there was a cradle of mankind 200,000 years ago in east Africa, but our new data reveal that Homo sapiens spread across the entire African continent around 300,000 years ago.

'Long before the out-of-Africa dispersal of Homo sapiens, there was dispersal within Africa.'

The Moroccan bones, thought to be around 300,000 years old, are the earliest modern human remains ever found. 

The Moroccan skulls fit the commonly accepted theory that modern humans evolved solely from African ancestors.

But the new Dali skull research challenges this idea.

It's possible that early humans in Africa that evolved into Homo sapiens weren't isolated from other early ancestors in Eurasia, Professor Athreya said. 

A new analysis of a 260,000-year-old skull from China skull has found it is very similar to the earliest known fossil of our species, found 6,200 miles (10,000 km) away in Morocco. Pictured is an artist's impression of what the first Homo sapiens in Africa looked like

The earliest Homo sapiens fossils are found across the entire African continent: Jebel Irhoud, Morocco (300,000 years), Florisbad, South Africa (260,000 years), and Omo Kibish, Ethiopia (195,000 years)

THE DALI SKULL 

A 260,000-year-old skull found in Dali County in China's Shaanxi Province may rewrite human history.

The 'Dali skull', uncovered in 1978, is remarkably complete, with its face and brain case still in tact.

Researchers describing the skull in 1979 thought it belonged to the early human species Homo erectus.

But a new analysis, from experts at Texas A&M University in College Station and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, finds it could be a modern human.

The team say the remains share many common features with modern human, or Homo sapiens, skulls found in the 1960s at the Jebel Irhoud cave in Morocco.

The researchers suggest that some modern Homo sapiens traits evolved in Eurasia.

Small groups then migrated to Africa and mingled with native early humans.

Modern humans arose from these interbreeding groups, meaning not all of our DNA came from African ancestors.

Small groups from each continental population migrated between the two and interbred, meaning modern human DNA is part-Eurasian. 

The new theory could explain why the Dali skull shares remarkable similarities with the bones found in Morocco.

It illustrates how genetic features that appeared in Africa 300,000 years ago could also crop up in individuals living in China 40,000 years later, Professor Athreya said.

The anthropologist thinks the flow of early human DNA from Africa went back the other way, too.

Homo erectus (skull pictured left, reconstruction pictured right) is thought to have been a key early human ancestor in our own evolution. The Chinese skull was originally thought to be from Homo erectus, but a new analysis shows it is remarkably similar to Homo sapiens

DID MAN ORIGINATE IN MOROCCO? 

The earliest Homo sapiens fossils are found across the entire African continent: Jebel Irhoud, Morocco (300,000 years), Florisbad, South Africa (260,000 years), and Omo Kibish, Ethiopia (195,000 years). 

This indicates a complex evolutionary history of our species, possibly involving the whole African continent.

It's possible there's a centre of origin of our species somewhere on the continent, but to date, experts don't have a way to find where this is.

It is unlikely Homo sapiens arose in one place in Africa and instead appeared in several locations across the continent.

'I think gene flow could have been multidirectional, so some of the traits seen in Europe or Africa could have originated in Asia,' Professor Athreya told New Scientist.

This means the Homo sapien features seen in the Dali skull could have evolved in Asia after early humans migrated there.

These traits were carried back to Africa by migrating groups, who interbred with native populations. 

Alternative theories suggest that Homo sapiens left Africa over 100,000 years earlier than first thought, reaching China by 260,000 years ago, though genetic evidence does not support this.

Other theories say the Dali skull was in fact from an 'Asian Homo erectus' as first reported, and that these populations may have separately evolved some modern human traits.

Pictured are the sites where the oldest human remains have been found across the world. Modern humans (Homo erectus) probably arose around 1 million years ago

Professor Chris Stringer, an expert at the Natural History Museum in London, told New Scientist that while the Moroccan and Chinese finds are similar, he doubts Professor Athreya's claims.

'When it comes to the vast amount of genetic data, it becomes very difficult to give China a significant role in modern human origins,' he said.

'I'm open to Asian-African connections at this time, but western Asia-Africa, not further afield.' 

GAZELLE AND ZEBRA WITH AN OSTRICH EGG ON THE SIDE: WHAT THE FIRST HUMANS ATE

Dr Teresa Steele, a paleoanthropologist at the University of California, Davis, who analysed animal fossils at Jebel Irhoud, said plenty of gazelle meat, with the occasional wildebeest, zebra and other game and perhaps the seasonal ostrich egg was the diet of the time.

Dr Steele sifted through hundreds of fossil bones and shells, identifying 472 of them to species as well as recording cut marks and breaks indicating which ones had been food for humans.

Most of the animal bones came from gazelles. 

Alongside the Homo sapiens remains found at at Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, stone tools and animal bones were discovered (pictured). Experts used these bones to figure out the diet of the earliest known modern humans

Among the other remains, Dr Steele also identified hartebeests, wildebeests, zebras, buffalos, porcupines, hares, tortoises, freshwater molluscs, snakes and ostrich egg shells.

Small game made up a fractional percentage of the remains. 

'It really seemed like people were fond of hunting,' she said.

Cuts and breaks on long bones indicate that humans broke them open, likely to eat the marrow, she said.

Leopard, hyena and other predators' fossils were among the finds, but Dr Steele found little evidence that the non-human predators had gnawed on the gazelle and other prey. 

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