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An ancient human skull, unearthed in 1990 in China's Hubei Province, could alter the understanding of human evolution. The skull, named Yunxian 2, was initially difficult to analyze due to deformation during fossilization. However, new scanning and digital reconstruction techniques have revealed that it belongs to an early branch of a sister lineage to Homo sapiens. The skull is estimated to be between 940,000 and 1.1 million years old and may be the oldest-known member of an evolutionary lineage that includes the Denisovans, who later interbred with Homo sapiens across Asia.
According to NBC News, the skull, believed to be of a man aged 30 to 40, was previously classified as Homo erectus. However, new findings suggest it exhibits features that distinguish it from Homo erectus, such as a long, low skull and a large brain size. The study, led by paleoanthropologist Xijun Ni from Fudan University and the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, places the skull within an Asia-centered hominin lineage that includes Homo longi and the Denisovans.
Chris Stringer, an anthropologist from the Natural History Museum in London, noted the skull's unique features, such as flat cheekbones and a large nose, which differ from Neanderthals. The findings propose that major branches of large-brained humans in Africa, Europe, and Asia began diverging over a million years ago. This discovery challenges previous timelines and suggests that the divergence among human lineages occurred earlier than thought.
The Yunxian 2 skull may provide insights into the evolutionary processes shaping our genus around a million years ago, potentially resolving the "Muddle in the Middle" dilemma concerning human fossils between 300,000 and one million years old.