An old skull discovered in Hubei province, China, is providing new insights into the timeline of human evolution. The fossil, known as Yunxian 2, dates back about 1 million years and has recently undergone detailed analysis.
According to The Guardian, this ancient skull is raising important questions about the emergence of modern humans. Previously classified as a member of Homo erectus, the skull is now believed by some researchers to belong to a different species entirely.
A New Twist on Homo Erectus
For decades, scientists classified the Yunxian 2 skull, discovered in 1990, as belonging to Homo erectus, an early human species once thought to be a direct ancestor of Homo sapiens. However, cutting-edge technology, including CT imaging, high-resolution surface scanning, and sophisticated digital reconstruction techniques, have led researchers to reconsider this identification.
The skull’s features—particularly its brain case and teeth—appear to align more closely with a group now called Homo longi (or “dragon man”), a species possibly related to the Denisovans, an enigmatic branch of early humans.
This revelation is a game-changer. If the Yunxian 2 skull is indeed linked to Homo longi, it would represent one of the closest fossils to the common ancestor of both modern humans and their extinct relatives, the Neanderthals and Denisovans. This challenges the conventional timeline of human evolution, which has placed the emergence of Homo sapiens around 300,000 years ago in Africa.
A New Origin Story?
This discovery doesn’t just alter the understanding of one fossil; it prompts a broader rethink about where Homo sapiens—and the human lineage—began. Experts, including Professor Chris Stringer from the Natural History Museum in London, suggest that this fossil points to a much earlier divergence between human species than previously thought.
In fact, it could mean that our common ancestor with Neanderthals, Denisovans, and other early humans lived much earlier than 1 million years ago. This would push the split between our ancestors and their relatives back by at least 400,000 years.
Stringer adds:
This changes a lot of thinking because it suggests that by 1 million years ago our ancestors had already split into distinct groups, pointing to a much earlier and more complex human evolutionary split than previously believed. It more or less doubles the time of origin of Homo sapiens.
Furthermore, this new perspective hints that Homo sapiens might have first emerged in Western Asia rather than Africa. If confirmed, it would completely revise the current understanding of human migration and evolution. Stringer explains that this skull marks a key moment in tracing back the evolutionary tree, perhaps even
Doubling the time of origin of Homo sapiens – He also states,
This fossil is the closest we’ve got to the ancestor of all those groups.
In a broader analysis of human evolution over the last 800,000 years, computational analysis suggests that large-brained humans evolved along five major branches: Asian erectus, Heidelbergensis, sapiens, Neanderthals, and Homo longi (which includes the Denisovans). This landmark study is considered an important step in resolving what scientists have called the “muddle in the middle”—the confusing array of fossils from 1 million to 300,000 years ago that has puzzled paleoanthropologists for decades.