What is the relationship between "Xu Chang people" and modern Chinese people?

Although the search for fossil DNA from the Xuchang people continues, even if the Xuchangs do have Neanderthal genes, there is still a long way to go before the end of the "African Origins Theory".
does "Xu Chang" have to do with modern Chinese people? Recently, a paper entitled "The study of ancient human skulls unearthed by Xuchang in China" was published in the journal Science, which said that a breakthrough had been made in the study of human evolution: the "Xuchang people" who lived more than 100,000 years ago at the Lingjing site in Xuchang County, Henan Province, may be descendants of ancient humans and European Neanderthals in China.
this statement once again challenges the so-called "African Origin Theory" and adds important evidence to the study of the origin and evolution of modern humans, especially in East Asia.
did modern humans come from? Are they all descendants of modern Human beings in Africa, as "African Origins" suggests, or are they evolved into modern humans at different times in different places, as "Multi-Ground Origins" points out? The xu chang people's research found that the puzzle, which has been hanging over, became even more elusive.
xuchang people in the end who also?After 12 consecutive years of excavation, archaeologists found a total of 45 "Xuchang" skull fossils, and its restoration, stitching, restoration and production of "Xuchang people" 1 and "Xuchang people" 2.
" 'Xu Chang man' on Cheng Zhoukou shop Beijing ape man, down to the early modern people in northern China, ending the hypothesis that modern people in northern China came from Africa.
, the first author of the paper and a researcher at the Henan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, told Science and Technology Daily.
2005, Li Zhanyang's archaeological team began archaeological excavations of the site of the "Xuchang People" in Lingjing, northwest of Xuchang County, about 15 kilometers from Xuchang Old City.
nearly 10 years later, Li Zhanyang clearly remembers the discovery of the "Xuchang" skull fossil.
It was the morning of December 17, 2007, originally planned to stop work on the 15th, because unearthed several specimens of positive stone tools, including very delicate pointed stone tools and scrapers, feel that the work stoppage is a pity, so intend to postpone excavation, but the cold snap will come, can only last two days.
is really heavenly beauty.
year into December, either frozen or rainy snow, but the lowest temperature in 2007 is still around zero degrees, which is undoubtedly suitable for exploring the weather.
, when the excavations entered the 11th floor, the soil softened and the number of unearthed fossils and stone objects suddenly increased.
" recalls these, Li Zhanyang is still very excited.
the morning of the 17th just started work, someone said: "Today the head should come out!" "As always, people just use it as a joke.
, but at this time, we all know in our hearts, has reached the last moment of excavation.
this time someone found a skull fossil, the mechanic rushed over to help clean up the soil above the fossil.
the contours of the fossils suddenly became clear: the bones were pale yellow, the surface was round, and, more importantly, the bone seams were clearly visible on one side (a feature not found in any other animal fossil other than humans).
12 consecutive years of excavations, archaeologists have found 45 fossils of ancient human skulls between 125,000 and 105,000 years old.
Since 2014, a research team led by Li Zhanyang and Wu Xiujie, a researcher at the Institute of Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has repaired, stitched, restored and studied the fossils of Xuchang's skulls, producing the restored skulls and intracranial membranes of the virtual and physical skulls of The Xuchangs 1 and The Xuchangs 2, respectively.
skull retains most of the brain and part of the bottom after recovery, from a young male individual, and after recovery, the second remains the back of the brain, from an adult individual.
"XuChang people" is a mixed race between China and Europe?The "Xuchang" skull has a mixture of ancient humans in China, European Neanderthals and early modern humans, and may be the result of genetic exchange between ancient humans in northern China and Neanderthals in Europe.
Through the study of the fossilized skulls of the Xuchangs, Wu Xiujie said they found that the "Xuchang" skulls had a mixture of ancient humans in China, European Neanderthals and early modern humans, possibly as a result of genetic exchanges between ancient humans in northern China and European Neanderthals.
" 'Xu Chang' may be a new species in human evolution.
," Li said.
, however, scientists have not yet successfully carried out DNA analysis of the "Xuchang" skull fossils.
Low skull dome, flat brain, maximum cranial width position lower, short and tilted to the inside of the masthead, "Xuchang people" with Zhoukoudian Beijing ape man, and county ape man and other ancient human characteristics in northern China.
same time, Xu Chang people also presented important features of the transition to early modern people, such as enlargement of brain capacity, thinning of the skull, relatively thin brow ridge, skull structure and so on.
no. 1 skull has a cranial capacity of about 1800 ml, and although the no. 2 skull is smaller than No. 1, it is also above the average range of variation of late 1st human beings.
Neanderthals, named after the Neanderthal region of Germany, lived in Europe, North Africa and Western Asia and flourished between 130,000 and 30,000 years earlier, with two unique features that were completely different from those of the rest of the world - structural grooves on the pillow bones, lost ears in the cheekbones, and similar features on the "Huichang" skull.
, the scientists did not find any similarities between the Xuchangs and the ancient african humans.
, the first concentrated discovery outside the Neanderthal area of activity, suggests the possibility of genetic communication between two populations.
" Wu Xiujie said, "'Xu Chang people' mixed physical characteristics, may be the result of genetic exchange or hybridization between the two major populations in the East and the West."
" As to the circumstances under which the Xuchangs and Neanderthals had genetic exchanges, Li Zhanyang reasoned that before the Xuchangs, the East Asian continent was extremely cold, and the Xuchangs migrated to mild-weather Europe, meeting and interbreeding with the early Neanderthals.
between 128,000 and 74,000 years, the climate warmed and the ancient humans returned to their homes.
because of the Atlantic warm currents, it may once have become a "sanctuary" for humanity.
"Xu Chang people" subvert "African origin said"?Some experts pointed out that the "Huichang people" fossil appearance and China's ancient humans and European Neanderthals similar, to end the "African origin theory" still has a long way to go.
there are two different views on the origin of modern people, one is "African origin theory" and the other is "multi-land origin theory", the two views have been in confrontation for many years, but with "African origin theory" prevailing.
"African Origins Theory" appeared in 1987, when three American biologists selected 147 women from Africa, Europe, Asia and other placenta to extract granule DNA from their post-birth placenta.
analysis found that these mitochondrial DNA can be traced back to an African woman (known as "Eve") about 200,000 years ago.
, genetically, genetic differences between people on all continents are so small that they cannot be developed separately.
Li Zhanyang said the Xuchang skull is one of the most important ancient human fossils found worldwide in more than 20 years.
it has some characteristics of ancient human beings in China, such as Chinese ape people in Zhoukoudian in Beijing, Anhui and county ape people, as well as the progressive characteristics of the transition to modern humans, in addition to the European Neanderthal characteristics.
suggests that these fossils are the same and different from other human fossils found in the past and have formed elements of a new species.
based on the first two characteristics, we can say that the Xuchang people evolved continuously from ancient Chinese humans, not from a foreign one.
this supports the modern man's "multi-origin theory" and the impact on "African origin theory".
"Modern people all over the world are descendants of modern Africans, and it seems problematic that there has not been a case in more than 20 years, and molecular genetics experts have questioned it."
"Li Zhanyang said, "This study provides some new evidence for the study of the origin of modern people, which supports the 'multi-land origin theory', at least in northern China."
, of course, this study doesn't solve all the origin problems.
however, some experts said that China believes in "multi-land origin theory" and that scholars who argue that "chinese ancient humans continued to enter chemistry" are mostly inferring the link between fossils by inferring the similarity of physiques (i.e. "morphology") from the fossils of the Lantians, Beijingers and even the Xuchangs, far less scientific than genetic testing.
What is now called "Huichang" has a relationship with Neanderthals, but only by observing "structural grooves on the pillow bones, the inner ear of the cheekbones lost mode" and so on, has not been confirmed by DNA testing.
Although the search for fossil DNA from the Xuchang people continues, even if the Xuchangs do have Neanderthal genes, there is still a long way to go to end the "African Origins Theory" because there are far few opportunities to find fossils of ancient humans around the world.
"There's a long way to go!" Li Zhanyang said.
extended reading: "Xuchang people" old house will be built site park "Xuchang people" site is one of the most important Old Stone Age sites in China, found in 1965, 2005 the first archaeological excavation.
In December 2007, the cultural relics department of Henan Province found fossils of human skulls here, which the academic community believes is a major discovery to study the origin of modern human beings in China, named "Xuchang people", the site was named "Xuchang people" archaeological site.
April 2014, the Antiquities Department found a more complete fragment of the ancient human skull and the skulls of other individuals at the site of the "Xuchang People", known as the "Xuchang Man" 2.
May 2015, two more fossils of ancient human limb bones were found at the site of the "Xuchang People" Paleolithic, which was excavated under the auspices of the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Henan Province.
The excavation also unearthed a top bone fossil broken, its characteristics and the 2014 discovery of the "Xuchang people" No. 2 skull close, belongs to the Lingjing "Xuchang people" old stone site of the 11th floor, the formation age has been determined to be about 100,000 years ago.
Recently, Xuchang City Wenguang New Bureau revealed that this year, Xuchang City will start the "Xuchang people" archaeological site park planning and construction programming work, the preliminary planning site park total control area of about 2.2 million square meters, and strive to be completed in 5 to 10 years.
will use the museum in the site park to hold an exhibition of unearthed cultural relics, the "Xuchang people" site unearthed specimens are all on display, so that people can see the "Xuchang people" style.
it is learned that Henan Province currently has three national archaeological sites park: Henan Yinyu Archaeological Site Park, Luoyang Tang Archaeological Site Park, Han Wei Luoyang Old City National Archaeological Site Park.
the "Xuchang People" Archaeological Site Park will be the 4th National Archaeological Site Park in Henan Province.
source: Lili Fu.