A previously unknown type of human—jut-jawed, heavy-browed, deer-eating cave dwellers—may have been identified via Stone Age bones from southern China, according to a controversial new study.
The "mystery human fossils" might even represent an entirely new species that existed alongside our own as recently as 11,500 years ago, according to a team of Chinese and Australian researchers.
Or the fossils might represent an especially early migration of so-called modern humans out of Africa and into East Asia, the team suggests.
Or—as some critical scientists have said—the evidence may tell us something we already know: People come in all shapes and sizes.
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