A pair of skulls unearthed in China could shed light on the ancient humans that lived in the region, a recent study published in the journal Science reports.

Scientist have long known that Neanderthals dominated most of Europe and western Asia before Homo sapiens arrived in the area some 60,000 years ago. However, actual evidence of those early populations has been hard to come by.

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing uncovered the remains during excavations in Lingjing, Xuchang County, between 2007 and 2014. Both findings are partial skulls dating back between 105,000 and 125,000 years ago. Though without faces, the bones have clear similarities and differences to the Neanderthals who lived further west.

In addition, the team noted certain characteristics such as a low, broad braincase that link the skulls to even earlier species. However, other features associated with those species, such as bony ridges over the eyes, were not found. The team believes this is an example of gracilisation, in which a bone steadily loses mass through evolution.

Both specimens are of interest because they have comparatively large braincases. This gives more credence to the theory that larger brain sizes steadily became more and more prevalent in Europe, Africa, and Asia as time moved on.

This morphological combination, particularly the presence of a mosaic not known among early Late Pleistocene humans in the western Old World, suggests a complex interaction of directional paleobiological changes and interregional population dynamics, said study co-author Dr. WU Xiujie, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in a statement.

Because the skulls have no teeth, the team is not able to say if they are related to the Denisovans another ancient human species. Though little is known about the group, many believe it split from the Neanderthal lineage about 400,000 years ago. That likely led to interbreeding, which means subsequent lineages could have Neanderthal features in their morphology.

Theres a certain amount of regional diversity at this time, but also there are trends in basic biology that are shared by everybody. And the supposed Neanderthal characteristics show that all these populations were interconnected, said study co-author Dr. Erik Trinkaus, a researcher at the Washington Universitys Department of Anthropology in St. Louis, according toBBC News.

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Ancient skulls shedding light on evolution of early humans - Science Recorder