Mysterious fossils may be new human species A skull of the possibly new hominin, shown here. Credit: Darren Curnoe This artist's recon...

Mysterious fossils may be new human species

A skull of the possibly new hominin, shown here. Credit: Darren Curnoe

This artist's reconstruction by Peter Schouten suggests what the Red Deer Cave People may have looked like when alive some time between 11,500 and 14,500 years ago. Credit: Peter Schouten

Darren Curnoe (left) and Ji Xueping (right) studying the Longlin skull from the Red Deer Cave, in 2010. The researchers found a mix of bygone and modern human features. For instance, unlike modern Homo sapiens, they would've had prominent brow ridges, thick skull bones, flat upper faces with a broad nose, jutting jaws that lack a humanlike chin, brains moderate in size by Ice Age human standards, large molar teeth, and primitively short parietal lobes — brain lobes at the top of the head associated with sensory data. Credit: Paul Tacon

The fossil specimens of the possibly new human species were uncovered in 1989 by miners quarrying limestone at Maludong or Red Deer Cave near the city of Mengzi in southwest China. They remained unstudied until 2008. Shown here, Darren Curnoe (right) and Andy Herries (left) excavating at Maludong in 2008. Credit: Darren Curnoe

Mysterious fossils of what may be a previously unknown type of human have been uncovered in caves in China, ones that possess a highly unusual mix of bygone and modern human features, scientists reveal.