Relationship between Archaic Humans and Homo sapiens

Recently an almost 160,000 years old archaic human molar fossil has been discovered in China. The fossil is the first ever evidence of the interbreeding between Archaic humans and Homo sapiens in Asia. According to the study published in the journal titled “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences”, three-rooted lower molar which is a rare trait/ characteristic, is found in the people of modern Asia. It was earlier thought to have evolved after the humans moved away from Africa. On the contrary, the new research points at a different evolutionary path. Shara Bailey, a professor of anthropology at New York University stated that the presence of traits/ characteristics in the fossil is a proof of the fact that the fossil is older than as was previously thought or understood. Also, some of the modern Asian groups have obtained the traits by way of interbreeding with a sister group of Neanderthals, the Densiovans. As per one of the previous studies, Bailey and her colleagues observed that Denisovans had taken over the Tibetan Plateau long before the humans actually came to the region. The work along with the new PNAS analysis emphasized on the lower mandible that was found on the Tibetan Plateau in Baishiya Karst Cave in Xiahe, China in the year 1980. The PNAS study which also included NYU anthropologist and Jean-Jacques Hublin, who is the director of the Department of Human Evolution at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology focused on the molar with the main motive of understanding the relationship between archaic humans. The archaic humans were the ones who had occupied Asia more than 160,000 years ago. From ancient times, there have been long claims concerning the connections between archaic and modern humans due to the presence of some shared traits/ characteristics. On the contrary, it was also observed that these traits are of primitive nature and not unique to the Asians. But the three rooted molar trait is unique and specific to the Asian groups. The depiction of the molar trait in the 160,000-year-old archaic human in Asia strongly suggests that the trait is transferred to humans in the region through interbreeding with the archaic humans in Asia.
By: Preeti Narula
Source Link: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190708154036.htm