Stone Age people discovered - ABC Online

TONY EASTLEY: Australian and Chinese scientists believe they've identified a new group of Stone Age people, dubbed the Red Deer Cave dwellers.

The scientists have studied fossils found in China and concluded that they might represent a previously unknown people who lived as recently as 11,000 years ago.

The fossils, although discovered in the 1970s and 80s have only recently been subjected to intense scrutiny.

The next step is to try and extract ancient DNA from the fossils.

David Weber reports.

DAVID WEBER: The scientists looked at a partial skeleton found in 1979 and the remains of several individuals discovered 10 years later.

One of the team leaders is professor Darren Curnoe of the University of New South Wales.

DARREN CURNOE: We've discovered a new population of prehistoric humans whose skulls are an unusual mosaic of primitive features like those we see in our ancestors of hundreds of thousands of years ago, some modern traits which are similar features to what we see in living humans, as well as some unusual features.

DAVID WEBER: Professor Curnoe says they're anatomically unique in the human evolutionary tree.

DARREN CURNOE: They have rounded brain cases but their brow ridges are quite prominent, their skull bones are quite thick. Their faces are short and quite flat and they're tucked under the frontal part of the brain. They're modern characteristics. A broad nose, the jaws jut very forward of the face and they lack a human-like chin. Their brains were moderate in size and the frontal part of the brain, what we call the frontal lobe, was quite modern looking but the posterior parts are quite primitive looking, and they also had very large molar teeth.

DAVID WEBER: These people would have shared the land with modern looking people as farming was starting in China as recently as 14,000 years ago.

DARREN CURNOE: That's right. One of the sites of the human remains are dated to around 14,500 years ago and the other site 11,500 years ago.

And at this time in China there were very modern looking people who were living immediately to the east and to the south of this population, which were actually called the Red Deer Cave people.

And these modern humans were in fact beginning the early stages of farming, so there were economic transitions that we going on.

Why have they been called the Red Deer Cave People?

DARREN CURNOE: We've called them the Red Deer Cave People after one of the main sites where they come from - Maludong, which literally means Red Deer Cave.

Should we be describing them as a different species of human?

DARREN CURNOE: At this stage we've actually been quite reluctant to classify them, that is to place them into a species, whether it be Homo sapiens or something else. In the study of human evolution there's a major ongoing controversy, or an open question if you like, about just how we actually define our own species Homo sapiens, biologically.

But what I do mean of course is a human-like group or technically we call them Hominids of course. They're clearly a population that's quite closely related to humans and possibly closely related also to the Neanderthal.

DAVID WEBER: There's been one unsuccessful attempt to extract DNA from the remains.

Professor Curnoe says they're trying again.

DARREN CURNOE: If we could extract ancient DNA from these fossils that would really be a wonderful thing because it would allow us to really decisively test some of these ideas that we've developed - hypotheses that we've developed directly from the bones themselves.

We've actually expanded our collaboration to work with a couple of international ancient DNA laboratory specialist groups who have been very successful in amplifying ancient DNA.

DAVID WEBER: The findings from the joint Australian-Chinese team have been published in the online journal Public Library of Science One.

TONY EASTLEY: David Weber.