Ancient human skull found in China

Beijing -- Chinese archaeologists said they've found a human skull fossil that could date back 100,000 years.

Shen Jixiang, director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, told China Daily the find at a site in Henen is the "greatest discovery in China after the Peking Man and Upper Cave Man skull fossils were found in Beijing early last century."

The fossil consists of 16 pieces of the skull with protruding eyebrows and a small forehead. Researchers said the skull has a fossilized membrane on the inner side, so scientists can track the nerves of Paleolithic ancestors, the newspaper said.

Researcher Li Zhanyang told The Guardian the skull could help fill a major gap in the knowledge of human evolution. He said most palaeoanthropologists believe all modern Homo sapiens are descended primarily from people who came out of Africa up to about 60,000 years ago but some Chinese scientists say "there is more regional continuity than western scientists believe," the British newspaper said said.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.