At some distributor point during the Pleistocene epoch , 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago , the rough-cut ascendent between humans and Neanderthals walk the Earth . Although we have no decent , fossilized remains of this creature , researcher from theUniversity of Cambridgehave hem in this problem by using novel algorithms to simulate what its skull would have looked like . This incredible three-D rendering has been showcased in theJournal of Human Evolution .
The fossil track record of any evolutionary linage is far from complete . This is partly because we have n’t found every single fossil yet , and partially because not all beast ’ stay arepreserved . accordingly , certainly evolutionary “ gaps ” exist , including within our own species ’ evolutionary tree .
We know thatHomo sapiensand Neanderthals both evolved fromHomo heidelbergensis , but from two different population of thisancestral species . The African grouping ofH. heidelbergensisevolved intoH. sapiens130,000 years ago , who then rapidly migrated into Europe and Asia afterwards . The pre - existing EurasianH. heidelbergensisgroup acquire into Neanderthals ( Homo neanderthalensis ) , who eventually became nonextant .
However , the fossil grounds forH. heidelbergensisis quite poor , so we do n’t have a good idea of what they may have looked like . This squad of researchers adjudicate to make a virtual fogy of the skull of the last coarse root between humans and Neanderthals using a novel proficiency called “ digital morphometrics . ”
A panoptic grasp of skull spanning the evolutionary history of our sharedHomogenus were digitally scanned , includingH. neanderthalensisskulls , modern human skulls , and a 1.6 million - yr - oldHomo erectusfossil – the specie preceding the emergence ofH. sapiens , H. heidelbergensis , andH. neanderthalensis . Distinct lineament of the skulls were highlighted .
The TV above demo the evolutionary lineage of the two coinage . University of Cambridge
These 797 “ landmarks ” supply the investigator with an evolutionary fabric – key forcible traits whose issue could be track through time . They were then fed into a computer political program , where the practical skulls of both branches of theHomotree were analyzed , and compare with the limited fossil datum belong to ancestral family extremity back in the Pleistocene period .
“ This allow us to … animate virtually skull fossils of the last unwashed root of mod humans and Neanderthals , using a simple … ' tree of life ' for the genusHomo , ” say the study ’s lead author Dr. Aurélien Mounier , a researcher at Cambridge University ’s Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies ( LCHES ) , in astatement .
In term of the skull of our last mutual ascendent , the program produced three possibilities . By comparing these skull to the circumscribed original fossils and bone fragments from the Pleistocene , the researcher chose the one skull they felt had the salutary paroxysm .
Containing hallmarks of both species , in particular the bulge at the back of the skull ( the “ occipital bun ” ) , it also sport some unexpected departure . For example , the practical skull shows the strong indenture underneath the cheekbones that mod humans have . Neanderthals did not share this trait ; they had a thick bone around this domain , meaning that their face would have been more outwardly jut out .
trope credit : The 3D render of our last mutual ancestor ’s skull . Dr. Aurélien Mounier
Overall , the dodo face more like Neandertal than mod human beings , but the researchers say this is n’t surprising . Looking at our own species ’ evolutionary history , it is percipient to see that we divert far more from our plebeian ancestors over a comparatively short period of time of time compared to our Neanderthal full cousin .
Significantly , this technique has given another estimate for the engagement at which the two coinage emerged . H. sapiensandH. neanderthalensisfirst split 700,000 years ago – 300,000 years in the first place than antecedently thought – and this last common ancestor issue in the African group ofH. heidelbergensis .
