Two ancient partial skulls found in Xuchang, China were the subject of a new study about the pattern of population and biology of ancient humans in eastern Eurasia. These skulls are believed to belong to ancient Denisovans. The Xuchang fossils are believed to have existed 100,000 years ago.

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The Denisovans were poorly known with bits of DNA from a silver bone found in Denisova Cave in Siberia, Russia in 2010. The discovery of the partial skull from eastern China shows what these people may have looked like.

Maria Martinón-Torres, a paleoanthropologist from University College London, says that these new skulls fit the expected features of Denisovans; it is somewhat Asian but related to Neanderthals. However, no DNA was extracted from the skull, so the possibility remains to be a speculation.

The skulls present distinct characteristics and features. They Denisovans have light built cranial vaults with modest bow ridges; they have a similar brain size based on late archaic human from Old World. Their braincase is low and broad-based on Middle Pleistocene or eastern Eurasians. When it comes to the eastern Eurasian Neanderthals, they have two distinct qualities; the arrangement of their rear skull is detailed and their semi-circular detailed configuration. The Denisovans fit those descriptions.

However, their crania are also different from western Neanderthals from the Middle East and Europe. Their brow ridges were thin, and the have less robust skull bone which is likely same for Asian fossils.

Paleoanthropologist Erik Trinkaus from Washington Univer­sity in St. Louis in Missouri noted that these skulls are not fully Neanderthals.