During the course of evolution, the mammalian cranio-mandibular secondary joint—formed by the dentary condyle and the squamosal glenoid fossa, which replaced the reptilian articular–quadrate joint—represents an innovative structure in vertebrate evolution. By CT-scanning two classic fossils, Chinese researchers found previously unknown jaw joints and proposed a clear, four-step sequence showing how chewing and hearing functions were gradually split between jaw and ear.

“What Denisovans looked like, despite their genetic contributions to present-day East Asians and Oceanians? ” This is one of the most important questions that has arisen since the discovery of the Denisovans 15 years ago. Now, recent research by a team led byFU Qiaomiei from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and JI Qiangof Hebei GEO University has helped answer this question by confirming that a nearly complete hominin skull discovered near Harbin belongs to the Denisovan lineage. It dates back to at least 146,000 years ago.

Newly sequenced ancient genomes from Yunnan, China, have shed new light on human prehistory in East Asia. In a study published in Science on May 29, a research team led by Prof. Fu Qiaomei at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences analyzed data from 127 ancient humans, dating from 7,100 to 1,400 years ago. The results show that this region is pivotal to understanding the origin of both Tibetan and Austroasiatic (i.e., ethnic groups with a shared language group in South and Southeast Asia) population groups.

A research team led by Professor WANG Min from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has discovered two bird fossils in Jurassic-era rocks from Fujian Province in southeast China. These rocks date back approximately 149 million years. The fossils fill a spatiotemporal gap in the early evolutionary history of birds and provide the evidence yet that birds were diversified by the end of the Jurassic period.

Despite the long history of consumption of fermented dairy, little is known about how the fermented microbes were utilized and evolved over human history. Here, by retrieving ancient DNA of Bronze Age kefir cheese (~3,500 years ago) from the Xiaohe cemetery, a group of Chinese scientists explored past human-microbial interactions.

According to a study published in Current Biology on May 22, the genetic components of the ancient populations in the western Tibetan Plateau are closest to ancient populations in the southern Tibetan Plateau, and their major genetic components have been maintained over the past 3,500 years. In addition, these ancient populations in the western Tibetan Plateau had complex and frequent interactions with ancient populations inside and outside the plateau. Contact to FU Qiaomei: fuqiaomei@ivpp.ac.cn