Researchers suggest that a million-year-old skull might alter the entire timeline of human evolution

The Skull Could Transform Our Understanding

A human skull, estimated to be over a million years old, might revolutionize our knowledge of human evolution.

Prominent scientists have made a significant discovery after examining an ancient skull called Yunxian 2, found in the Yunxian region of China's Hubei province in 1990.

This artefact, which was found severely deformed and crushed, was initially identified as belonging to the early human species Homo erectus, based on its age, large brain case, protruding lower jaw, and broad characteristics.

However, new analysis suggests a different theory, proposing that the overall shape and size of the brain case and teeth align more closely with Homo longi. If accurate, this could imply that Homo sapiens originated outside of Africa, according to researchers in a recent study published in Science.

The team employed modern reconstruction techniques on the bone and found it might belong to this different group, which is more closely associated with Denisovans, who coexisted with our ancestors.

The research included a reconstruction of the fossil (Science)

The discovery would identify the fossil as the closest on record to the divergence between modern humans and our nearest relatives, the Neanderthals and Denisovans, dating back at least 400,000 years, offering a new perspective on the physical characteristics of early humans.

It would also significantly alter our historic understanding of the last million years of human evolution, suggesting that the first Homo sapiens may have originated from Western Asia rather than Africa.

Professor Chris Stringer, an anthropologist and research leader in human evolution at the Natural History Museum in London, remarked: “This changes a lot of thinking because it suggests that by 1 million years ago, our ancestors had already divided into distinct groups, indicating a much earlier and more complex human evolutionary split than previously thought.

"It essentially doubles the time of origin for Homo sapiens.”

It might alter our understanding of evolution

He stated: "This fossil is the nearest we have to the ancestor of all those groups."

The research utilized advanced CT imaging and sophisticated digital methods to create a new virtual reconstruction of the skull.

"We believe that this study is a significant step towards resolving the ‘muddle in the middle’ that has occupied palaeoanthropologists for years,” the professor added.

Dr. Frido Welker, an associate professor in human evolution at the University of Copenhagen, who was not part of the research, commented: “It’s thrilling to have a digital reconstruction of this important cranium available," reports The Guardian.

"If further fossils and genetic evidence confirm this, the divergence dating would indeed be surprising. Alternatively, molecular data from the specimen itself could offer insights that confirm or challenge the authors’ morphological hypothesis.”