human paleontology

Drastic climate changes shaped the timeline for rich deposits of early human ancestor fossils found in a network of South African caves known as the “Cradle of Humankind,” suggests a new study co-authored by paleoanthropologists at Washington University in St. Louis.

Two partial archaic human skulls, from the Lingjing site, Xuchang, central China, provide a new window into the biology and populations patterns of the immediate predecessors of modern humans in eastern Eurasia. Securely dated to about 100,000 years ago, the Xuchang fossils present a mosaic of features.