Is this the proof that human ancestors also came from Asia? 100,000-year-old skulls found in China challenge traditional theory on mankind's African origin
From：Daily Mail NetWriter：Sophie WilliamsDate：2017-03-06
The discovery of two ancient human skulls in China have challenged the common belief that all modern humans are descended from Africa.New evidence has found that Neanderthals may have reached East Asia over 100,000 years ago and bred with locals.
This backs up an alternative theory that modern humans appeared at around the same time in Africa and other parts of the world.
The human cranial fossil remains from were discovered in Henan Province, central China.
They were unearthed in Xuchang with the first discovered in 2007 and the second found in 2014. They have been named the 'Xuchang Man'.
Discovery: The two skull remains were found in Xuchang, central China's Henan province. Above, experts discovered the fragments of the first skull in December, 2007
Researchers also found that the remains share characteristics of Chinese hominids, Neanderthals and modern humans.
Discovery of the archaeological effort, carried out by Chinese and American researchers, were published on Science magazine.
According to China's Xinhua News Agency, the inner ear labyrinth structure of 'Xuchang Man' is similar to that of a Neanderthal.
This is one of the 16 skull fragments Chinese archaeologists discovered in 2007 in Xuchang
Peking Man is a Homo erectus discovered in 1923-1927 near Beijing.
Li said that the first skull, discovered in 2007, had features of early modern humans and its thought that it was a direct ancestor of modern northern Chinese.
The remains were found here in Xuchang in 2007. Experts were able to reconstruct the skull from 16 fragments
A DNA analysis of the fossils is yet to be carried out.
Wu Xiujie, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Sciences institute of vertebrate paleontology and paleoanthropology told Xinhua: 'Its features are likely to be the result of crossbreeding between Eastern and Western human species.'
The findings have lent support to the 'multiregional hypothesis', an alternative theory to the commonly believed 'out-of-Africa hypothesis' on the origin of modern humans.
The remains were found here in Xuchang in 2007. Experts were able to reconstruct the skull from 16 fragments
The 'multiregional hypothesis' suggests that the Homo erectus dispersed from Africa and moved to other parts of the world before evolving into modern humans.
The discovery has challenged the long thought idea that Neanderthals struggled to mix with local populations.
It is said that between one and six percent of the DNA carried by people from Europe and much of Asia has been inherited from Neanderthals and early human cousins the Denisovans.
Prior to the discovery of the skull in 2007, Hominid fossils had been found across the country with some dating back to two million years ago, showing the evolution of man.
Incredible discovery: The first skull is said to be some 80,000-100,000 years old. Above, two archaeologists were measuring a fragment on site
This discovery challenged the theory that all modern human being are descended from Africa
According to China Daily, there are scientists who insist on the multi-regional evolution model which states that man descended from several indigenous archaic human populations.
The oldest human fossils found in China date back some 1.7 million years.