Penghu 1

[1] The fossil was found 60–120 meters below the water's surface and about 25 kilometers off the western coast of Taiwan in an area which was once part of the mainland.

[2] After Mr. Tsai donated the fossil to the National Museum of Natural Science, it was described in 2015 by an international team of Japanese, Taiwanese, and Australian scientists.

The mandible shows a receding anterior surface and lacks a pronounced chin which has helped distinguish it from the species Homo sapiens.

However, the fossil exhibited derived traits similar to early Homo habilis including the shortness and width of its jaw.

[5] As a result of these similarities and their late presence in Eastern Asia, the authors of "The first Archaic Homo of Taiwan"[1] proposed several models for their existence.

[2] In 2015 paleontologist Mark McMenamin argued that unique dental characteristics of the jaw were sufficient to establish a separate species, which he dubbed Homo tsaichangensis.

[8] Wu & Bae (2024) assigned Penghu 1 to the new species Homo juluensis, as Xujiayao hominin, Xiahe mandible and Denisovans.