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during the Late Middle through Early Late Pleistocene has been used to support the argument for local evolutionary continuity in China between H. erectus and modern humans. The Dali specimen from Shaanxi, is dated to approximately 180,000 YA. It is similar in many ways to Jinniushan and represents a pre-modern form of H. sapiens. Its cranial capacity is intermediate between earlier forms of H. erectus and later more modern forms of H. sapiens, although it overlaps the range of variation seen in both. Dali is also intermediate in its morphological character, retaining many features associated with Asian H. erectus while evincing a number of derived features associated with modern humans such as expansion of the parietals and transformation in cranial base anatomy. In this oblique view the long, low contour of the Dali cranial vault is readily apparent. The upper jaw has been fractured and dislocated upwards giving the cranium the appearance of having a very short face. Actually the face would be very similar in overall dimensions to the Jinniushan cranium upon reconstruction. The Dali cranium has extremely robust brow ridges. They do not, however, assume the straight bar-like character of the brow seen at Zhoukoudian and are more similar structurally to the brow seen in archaic humans from Europe and Africa. Dali is dated to a time when Neanderthals were spread throughout much of Europe. The facial anatomy of Dali is very different from that seen in Neanderthals and is much more similar to that seen in later, more modern looking humans not only in China but northern and eastern Africa as well. This lateral view of Dali shows the rounding of the posterior con- tour of the skull, differing in this respect from the “pinched” look seen in H. erectus. The base of the Dali cranium is much more modern looking than that of H. erectus. The tympanic plate is thin and fore- shortened, much as in modern humans and quite distinct from the tubular form seen in H. erectus. The Maba cranium, dated to approximately 120,000 years ago was discovered in 1958 in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. It was the first substantial specimen of a pre-modern form of H. sapi- ens found in East Asia. It was initially thought to be an Asian Neanderthal but does not in fact show any of the derived features of Neanderthals as known from Europe and the Near East. The Maba skull is similar to other more complete finds of pre-modern H. sapiens subsequently found in China, differing only in minor ways, such as the size and shape of the orbits and nasal bones. Maba is also somewhat reminiscent of the recently discovered Narmada skull from India. Leyla Degirmen, UFO Roundup correspondent in the Balkans, has come across a strange story in the Turkish newspaper Milliyet, which stated that an alien skull was found last May in southern Bulgaria. “On May 21, 2001, a villager found an unusual skull on Rodolp Mountain in Bulgaria,” somewhere near Ardino and Madan, about 200 kilometers (120 miles) south of Sofia, the national capital. “Some scientists held a meeting in Asenovgrad. Prof. Yordan Yordanov, one of the best-known anthro- pologists in Europe, claimed that he had never seen a human or an animal skull like this in his life. Katya Melamet, one of the archaeologists at the Bulgarian Science Academy, has also told that she has never seen anything like this.” “The story of the villager is also very interesting,” Leyla writes, “He claimed that he had seen five peo- ple, with yellow metallic clothes, in his dream. They told the villager to go to the area on the 21st of May, and when he went there, he found the skull and a (small) elliptical metal object.” “The skull is (weighs) about 250 grams and has six holes in it to (which apparently) belong to the senses. The skull also has no mouth hole.” 295 Appendix D: Scientific Evidence Alien Skull Discovered in Bulgaria “This summary is from an article published in Milliyet on January 4, 2002." Atlantis, Alien Visitation, and Genetic Manipulation