许家窑人类化石在1976-1979年发现于泥河湾盆地北部许家窑遗址（又名许家窑-侯家窑遗址）的74703地点。化石包括1件儿童左侧上颌骨、3颗游离臼齿、2块枕骨、1件上颌支残段和13块顶骨碎片，代表约16个个体，生存于中更新世晚期。对于许家窑人的演化地位，长期以来学者们一直持有不同观点，分别将其归入直立人、尼安德特人、早期智人或者未知人群。最新研究显示：许家窑人的牙齿、头盖骨和下颌骨的形态都具有原始与进步混合的特征；许家窑个体呈现有罕见的先天巨顶孔缺陷遗传疾病、暴力冲突产生的创伤愈合痕迹、因营养缺乏导致的牙齿釉质发育不良及适应潜水环境产生有耳圆枕结构；许家窑人的颅容量为1700 mL以上，其上颌骨内鼻底、颞骨内耳迷路和枕圆枕的形态类似尼安德特人，牙齿生长发育模式接近现代人。许家窑人特殊的形态特征，特别是低而宽的头盖部和巨大的颅容量，与许昌人头骨形态相近，二者可能代表中更新世晚期-晚更新世早期东亚境内生存的一种新型古老型人类——巨颅人，可能是欧洲先驱人或者尼安德特人的祖先向东亚扩散，与东亚直立人杂交的后代。

The Xujiayao hominin remains are key to the study of East Asian human evolution but also the most controversial. The Xujiayao (Houjiayao) site is located west of Liyigou, a tributary on the left bank of the Sanggan River in the northern Nihewan Basin of northern China. The site was first discovered in 1973. Between 1976 and 1979, 21 human fossils were found at the site, including one partial left maxilla, three isolated teeth, two occipital bones, one partial mandible, one left temporal bone and 13 parietal fragments, all representing 16 individuals. Based on the associated fauna, and OSL dating on the middle-lower culture layers, the Xujiayao hominins lived in the late Middle Pleistocene (about 160-200 kaBP). Evaluations of Xujiayao taxonomy have ranged from being representatives of Asian H. erectus, pre-modern Homo sapiens, archaic Homo sapiens, Neandertals, intermediate between H. erectus and modern H. sapiens, unidentified hominin species, or related to Xuchang 1, Penghu 1, Xiahe 1 or Denisovans. Over the past 10 years, there has been renewed attention to these fossils. New results suggest that the Xujiayao hominins have a suite of unusual morphological traits that do not conform to existing patterns of morphology from either the time period or the region. These traits include large and morphologically complex teeth, very large cranial capacity (about 1700 mL), Neanderthal-like traits of bi-level nasal floor and temporal labyrinthine patterns that are common, but not exclusive to that lineage, live slow and die old modern growth and development patterns in the immature maxilla, and several primitive early East Asian traits despite the fossils’ recent age. In addition, the Xujiayao hominins show various pathologies, including a very rare congenital defect of an enlarged parietal foramen associated with cerebral venous and cranial vault anomalies, multiple traumatic lesions of endocranium, and minor temporal auditory porous new bone in external auditory exostoses. In conclusion, the Xujiayao hominins are characterized by a mosaic of archaic morphological features that distinguish them clearly from H. erectus, Neandertals, and modern humans. Given that the Xujiayao and Xuchang crania group closely together in multiple analyses and are quite different from all other comparative Pleistocene hominin crania, we conclude that they represent a new hominin population for the region, Juluren meaning “large head people”. It is quite possible that this population represents gene flow between Asian H. erectus and possibly H. antecessor or early Neandertals, which supports the idea of continuity with hybridization as a major force shaping Chinese populations during the late Middle and early Late Pleistocene.