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A mysterious ancient creature, resembling both a Neanderthal and a modern human, has been unearthed in China.

Fossils dating back 60,000 and 120,000 years have revealed an unknown species that doesn't seem to fit with any known hominin ancestor.

Scientists claim one explanation for the remarkable find may be that the fossils were the result of interbreeding between two known species.

A mysterious ancient creature, resembling both a Neanderthal and a modern human, has been unearthed in China.  The fossils, discovered in a cave in the Xujiayao site in 1976, are made up of skull fragments. Pictured are three of the teeth shown at different angles

The fossils, discovered in a cave in the Xujiayao site in 1976, are made up of skull fragments, and nine teeth from four individuals.

Maria Martinón-Torres of the National Research Centre on Human Evolution in Burgos, Spain recently made a new analysis of the teeth.

She focused on the size and shape of the crown and root system, as well as the cusps, grooves and their positions relative to each other, according to a report in the BBC.

The teeth were then compared to 5,000 other teeth that have been found from other known hominin species.

Pictured Xujiayao immature left partial maxilla - or the two bones that form the upper jaw. Rather than being a new species, scientists claim another explanation for the remarkable find may be that the fossils were the result of interbreeding between two known species

Maria Martinón-Torres of the National Research Centre on Human Evolution in Burgos, Spain recently made a new analysis of the teeth. She focused on the size and shape of the crown and root system, as well as the cusps, grooves and their positions relative to each other. Pictured is a computer model of the analysis

'Each of those slopes, grooves, valleys define a pattern or combination of features that can be distinctive of a population,' Martinón-Torres told Melissa Hogenboom at the BBC.

Some of the teeth had features that resembled the older species Homo erectus, while some appeared more Neanderthal.

'They have a mixture of something very primitive, which is currently unknown,' said Professor Martinón-Torres.

'We cannot go further to say it's a new species because we need to compare it to other things.'

While modern humans were in Africa, scientists are aware of four groups of early humans living elsewhere on the planet.

The Neanderthals lived in Europe, Homo floresiensis in Indonesia, the Denisovans in Asia and the Homo floresiensis in Indonesia.

One possibility is that these fossils belong to Denisovans – a mysterious species which co-existed and interbred with our human ancestors.

But Darren Curnoe of the University of New South Wales in Sydney says surface features on the teeth strongly suggests a new, unrecognised species, distinct from Denisovans.

Researchers are now hoping they will find more bones in other parts of Asia that could help solve the mystery.

A separate study published last week suggests there is yet another new primitive human species that may have lived in Asia.

The six permanent maxillary teeth of the unknown species. These are the teeth along the top of the human mouth. They rest along the upper jawbone, or maxilla, and have roots that extend into the upper jawbon

The fossils were discovered in a cave in the Xujiayao site of norther China in 1976. The latest study took a fresh look at the evidence to find a mysterious creature that shared traits Neanderthals and human ancestors

Fishermen working off the coast of Taiwan dredged up the jawbone of an ancient human ancestor that lived in the area around 200,000 years ago.

The short, thick mandible has unusually large teeth and a strong jaw compared to other human fossils found in East Asia, according to anthropologists.

The discovery, like the most recent one in China, suggests that it belonged to an previously unknown ancient human lineage. 

Experts say it means that there may have been several species of early human living in Asia until modern humans arrived 55,000 years ago. 

The fossilised jawbone was the first ancient hominin remains to be found in Taiwan.

It was dredged up in a fishing net from the Penghu submarine channel, about 15 miles (25km) off the west coast of Taiwan.

A separate study published last week suggests there is yet another new primitive human species that may have lived in Asia. Fishermen working off the coast of Taiwan dredged up the jawbone (pictured) an ancient human ancestor that lived in the area around 200,000 years ago.

The Penghu mandible (centre) found off the coast of Taiwan is much larger than the lower jawbones of Homo erectus from Java (left) and China (right), despite its much younger age according to the researchers

During the Pliestocene between 2.5 million and 11,000 years ago, periods of low sea level would have meant the area was part of the mainland of Asia.

Anthropologists from the National Museum of Natural Science in Taiwan and the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo who studied the newly discovered fossils say it is unlike any of the other fossilised ancient humans that spread through out Asia.

Homo erectus, remains of which have been found in Java, Indonesia, and mainland China, tended to have much narrower jawbones and smaller teeth.

Researchers say that this suggests the robust-jawed 'Penghu man' had a different evolutionary origin from the 'classic' Homo erectus found in the area.

It could mean that it is either an entirely new species or a rare subgroup of Homo erectus. 

Scientists used CT scanning to create the virtual reconstruction above of the jawbone discovered in Pinghu

This graphic above shows how the Penghu 1 fossil may fit into the complex timeline of human evolution

Dr Yousuke Kaifu, an anthropologist at the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo who was involved in the study, told MailOnline: 'It is a well-preserved mandible - a small fragment but contains a lot of information useful to evaluate its evolutionary position.

'What we can say is that it is clearly different from the known Homo erectus populations from northern China and Java, and likely represent a group that has been so far unrecognized so.'

He added that the species would have looked very different from modern humans.

He said: ''The new Taiwan mandible is markedly different from us in robusticity, not size, of the mandible. 

'Width of the bone at the lateral part of the mandible is 20.7 mm (0.8 inches) for Penghu, but on average 14 mm (0.55 inches) for fossil modern humans.'  

The Penghu Channel (seen above), where the jawbone was found, was once been part of mainland Asia