Who were Red Deer Cave People ?

Editor's Note: After several years of research, Chinese and Australian paleoanthropologists found that although the "Red Deer Cave People" who lived in Mengzi, Yunnan Province, China 14,000 years ago had existed up until the dawn of agricultural civilization, they retained many features of Homo habilis or Homo erectus. Who on earth were the "Red Deer Cave People"? Were they Homo habilis, Homo erectus or Homo sapiens? Why did they live in isolation in a corner of southwest China?

Ji Xueping, the lead researcher and the director of the Department of Paleoanthropology of the Yunnan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and Darren Curnoe, a professor at the University of New South Wales published a paper in the U.S. journal PLOS ONE on December 17 last year, uncovering the mystery of the "Red Deer Cave People".

 

 

"Red Deer Cave People" were originally called "Mengzi People”. Their fossils were first discovered in a quarry in Wenlan Town, Mengzi County, Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. Rescue excavations uncovered a relatively complete human skull fossil, three fossilised fragments of skull and human mandible and teeth fossils, as well as a large quantity of ash, burnt red clay, charcoal, bone char, animal bones and other fossils. Since a number of large deer fossils were found in the cave, archaeologists later named the site "Red Deer Cave". Ancient humans once living there were in turn named "Red Deer Cave People".

In 2008, Ji Xueping and Curnoe set up a joint team to conduct a joint study of the Red Deer Cave human fossils that had been sealed in Mengzi for nearly 20 years.

The first thing Ji Xueping's team did was to date the “Red Deer Cave People”. Using Carbon-14 and other dating methods to precisely date owners of the fossils, the “Red Deer Cave People” were found to have lived 14,000 years ago, but Ji Xueping's team unexpectedly discovered that although the Red Deer Cave People lived during the age of anatomically modern humans (anatomically modern humans ushered in the dawn of modern humans), but the features retained in the skull and other fossils showed that they were more likely an earlier human species.

One thing is certain—the “Red Deer Cave People”were the last species of ancient human to exist before the emergence of modern human. The exploration of the mystery is far from over.

In 2012, Ji Xueping and Curnoe co-published an article in journal PLOS ONE. Based on their analysis of the skulls of the “Red Deer Cave People”, they concluded that although the “Red Deer Cave People” lived during the age of anatomically modern humans, they had the features of Archaic Homo sapiens that lived at least 100,000 years ago, suggesting a group of Archaic Homo sapiens had survived into the age of anatomically modern humans, spanning hundreds of thousands of years.

When the paper was published in 2012, it caused a sensation in the academic world. The “Red Deer Cave People” have been seen as another major breakthrough in the study of human origins and evolution after the discovery of "The Hobbit" in Indonesia in 2003.

On December 17, 2015, Ji Xueping and Curnoe published another paper containing the results of their study of a femur from the "Red Deer Cave People" in PLOS ONE. The research once again drew attention from many mainstream media outlets and academic institutions in Europe and the United States.

This time they found that although the owner of the femur also lived during the age of anatomically modern humans, it had the features of Homo habilis and Homo erectus. This means that the owners’ features spanned a longer period of time, possibly one million years, two million years, or even longer.

"Three years ago, we studied the skull discovered. Then we found the features of Archaic Homo sapiens that lived 100,000 years ago," Ji Xueping said in an interview with reporters, "But today, after studying the femur, we found that the owner of the femur still retained many features of Homo habilis and Homo erectus. This seems to suggest that although the owner of the skull and the owner of the femur both came from the Red Deer Cave, they probably did not belong to the species."

"This will open up a very interesting area of research. Why did different species of ancient human live in the same geographic space in the same period?" Ji Xueping asked. Lin Shuo

Who were Red Deer Cave People ?

Editors Note: After several years of research, Chinese and Australian paleoanthropologists found that although the Red Deer Cave People who lived in Mengzi, Yunnan Province, China 14,000 years ago had existed up until the dawn of agricultural civilization, they retained many features of Homo habilis or Homo erectus. Who on earth were the Red Deer Cave People? Were they Homo habilis, Homo erectus or Homo sapiens? Why did they live in isolation in a corner of southwest China? Ji Xueping, the lead researcher and the director of the Department of Paleoanthropology of the Yunnan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and Darren Curnoe, a professor at the University of New South Wales published a paper in the U.S. journal PLOS ONE on December 17 last year, uncovering the mystery of the Red Deer Cave People. Red Deer Cave People were originally called Mengzi People. Their fossils were first discovered in a quarry in Wenlan Town, Mengzi County, Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. Rescue excavations uncovered a relatively complete human skull fossil, three fossilised fragments of skull and human mandible and teeth fossils, as well as a large quantity of ash, burnt red clay, charcoal, bone char, animal bones and other fossils. Since a number of large deer fossils were found in the cave, archaeologists later named the site Red Deer Cave. Ancient humans once living there were in turn named Red Deer Cave People. In 2008, Ji Xueping and Curnoe set up a joint team to conduct a joint study of the Red Deer Cave human fossils that had been sealed in Mengzi for nearly 20 years. The first thing Ji Xuepings team did was to date the Red Deer Cave People. Using Carbon-14 and other dating methods to precisely date owners of the fossils, the Red Deer Cave People were found to have lived 14,000 years ago, but Ji Xuepings team unexpectedly discovered that although the Red Deer Cave People lived during the age of anatomically modern humans (anatomically modern humans ushered in the dawn of modern humans), but the features retained in the skull and other fossils showed that they were more likely an earlier human species. One thing is certainthe Red Deer Cave Peoplewere the last species of ancient human to exist before the emergence of modern human. The exploration of the mystery is far from over. In 2012, Ji Xueping and Curnoe co-published an article in journal PLOS ONE. Based on their analysis of the skulls of the Red Deer Cave People, they concluded that although the Red Deer Cave People lived during the age of anatomically modern humans, they had the features of Archaic Homo sapiens that lived at least 100,000 years ago, suggesting a group of Archaic Homo sapiens had survived into the age of anatomically modern humans, spanning hundreds of thousands of years. When the paper was published in 2012, it caused a sensation in the academic world. The Red Deer Cave People have been seen as another major breakthrough in the study of human origins and evolution after the discovery of The Hobbit in Indonesia in 2003. On December 17, 2015, Ji Xueping and Curnoe published another paper containing the results of their study of a femur from the Red Deer Cave People in PLOS ONE. The research once again drew attention from many mainstream media outlets and academic institutions in Europe and the United States. This time they found that although the owner of the femur also lived during the age of anatomically modern humans, it had the features of Homo habilis and Homo erectus. This means that the owners features spanned a longer period of time, possibly one million years, two million years, or even longer. Three years ago, we studied the skull discovered. Then we found the features of Archaic Homo sapiens that lived 100,000 years ago, Ji Xueping said in an interview with reporters, But today, after studying the femur, we found that the owner of the femur still retained many features of Homo habilis and Homo erectus. This seems to suggest that although the owner of the skull and the owner of the femur both came from the Red Deer Cave, they probably did not belong to the species. This will open up a very interesting area of research. Why did different species of ancient human live in the same geographic space in the same period? Ji Xueping asked. Lin Shuo