The teeth, found in a cave in the Tongzi county of southern China, have been dated to approx. 200,000 years ago.
At first they were thought to belong to Homo Erectus but it turns out they don’t belong to Erectusor the more advanced Neanderthals.
The teeth have both ancient and modern traits. Erectus teeth are distinctive because of a crinkled tissue beneath the enamel, which is missing in the four teeth. This leads to the conclusion that the teeth might be from a later human ancestor but the shapes don’t quite fit.
There is the possibility the teeth belong to another human ancestor called the Denisovans but there is no way to make a direct comparison.
The most likely scenario is that different species of human ancestors met and reproduced, maybe a Denisovan and an Erectus. This possibility is supported by the recent discovery of a bone from an ancient teenager with a Neanderthal mom and Denisovan dad.
The record of Chinese fossils is expanding as more studies are translated into English so there may be more mysteries in the years to come.
