--- title: Skulls Found in China Are Part Human, Part Neanderthal description: Newly uncovered skulls in China have both human and Neanderthal features, a mix that so far hasn't been seen in a hominid fossil. canonical: https://time.com/4690289/china-skulls-human-neanderthal/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-03T17:00:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:34.093Z article:section: Science og:title: Skulls Found in China Are Part Human, Part Neanderthal og:description: It's a mix that so far hasn't been seen in a hominid fossil og:url: https://time.com/4690289/china-skulls-human-neanderthal/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d72928ea219a619/6988bce87cdbac21c1d5758d/skull-china-neanderthal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: skull-china-neanderthal og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Skulls Found in China Are Part Human, Part Neanderthal twitter:description: It's a mix that so far hasn't been seen in a hominid fossil twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d72928ea219a619/6988bce87cdbac21c1d5758d/skull-china-neanderthal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Skulls Found in China Are Part Human, Part Neanderthal ## Video: Scientists Have Discovered the First Dinosaur Brain Fossil [Watch (HLS stream): Scientists Have Discovered the First Dinosaur Brain Fossil](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/NgWf7jx2.m3u8) (0:56)  _Published 2016-10-27. More than a decade ago, an amateur fossil collector found a brown, pebble-sized lump on a beach in Sussex, England. Now scientists have determined that lump is the first known fossilized brain tissue from a dinosaur._  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Mar 3, 2017 5:00 PM UTC  Fossil fragments (yellow) were put together with their mirror-image pieces (purple) to visualize the skull of an archaic human who lived in eastern China. Fossil fragments (yellow) were put together with their mirror-image pieces (purple) to visualize the skull of an archaic human who lived in eastern China.AAAS  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Mar 3, 2017 5:00 PM UTC Newly uncovered skulls in China have both human and Neanderthal features, a mix that so far hasn’t been seen in a hominid fossil. [Writing in the journal _Science_](http://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6328/969), researchers described the Pleistocene-era skulls as having “a morphological mosaic with differences from and similarities to their western contemporaries.” The brow ridges and skull mass resembled early modern humans of the Old World, the skulls had a flat brainpan like other eastern Eurasian humans of the time, but their ear canals and large back section of the skull resembled Neanderthals, [the Washington _Post_ explains](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/03/03/skulls-found-in-china-were-part-modern-human-part-neanderthal-possibly-new-species/?utm%5Fterm=.cb14a85d6f90). Some experts think these skulls belong to ice-age humans called Deniso­vans, [_Science_ _Magazine_ reports](http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/03/ancient-skulls-may-belong-elusive-humans-called-denisovans). But Xiujie Wu, author of the study, speculated to the magazine that these partial skull fossils could be a new species, “a kind of unknown or new ar­chaic human that survived on in East Asia to 100,000 years ago.” These skulls aren’t the first evidence, however, that humans and Neanderthals may have mated. 1-3% of the average person is made up of Neanderthal genes, according to a 2014 [study](http://time.com/2837/neanderthal-genes-in-you/?iid=sr-link2). 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