Ancient Skull in China May Reveal a Lost Human Lineage!
A crushed and distorted skull unearthed in central China over three decades ago is now transforming what we know about early human evolution in Asia. Scientists have digitally reconstructed the one-million-year-old Yunxian 2 cranium, revealing that it may have belonged to a close relative of the mysterious Denisovans, part of a lineage known as the Homo longi clade, which likely lived alongside the ancestors of modern humans.
The fossil, discovered in 1990 on a river terrace of the Hanjiang River in Hubei Province, was long believed to be an example of Homo erectus. However, new research tells a very different story. Using high-resolution CT scans and cutting-edge 3D reconstruction technology, scientists were able to digitally undo the warping caused by millions of years of fossilisation and geological pressure.
What emerged was a skull with a fascinating blend of features, a large braincase, thick brow ridges, and a long, low shape typical of early humans, yet also a surprisingly flat face and other characteristics more in line with later hominins.
Photo Credit: Gary Todd (Public Domain)
This mix of ancient and modern traits, known as “mosaic” features, suggests that Yunxian 2 could represent a transitional form between Homo erectus and later human groups. Detailed anatomical and evolutionary analyses have placed the skull within the Homo longi clade, which may include the Denisovans, and as a sister group to Homo sapiens.
If this interpretation is correct, it means our evolutionary family tree branched far earlier than scientists once believed.
Previous research estimated that modern humans and Neanderthals diverged from a common ancestor around 500,000–700,000 years ago. But new data suggests that the Neanderthal line split first, around 1.38 million years ago, followed by the separation of the longi and sapiens clades roughly 1.32 million years ago.
Distinctive Homo longi features appear to have developed around 1.2 million years ago, with early Homo sapiens traits emerging by 1.02 million years ago, pushing back the origins of our species’ lineage by hundreds of thousands of years.
The importance of Yunxian 2 extends well beyond its age. It sits close to the theoretical root of both the Homo longi and Homo sapiens branches, meaning it could preserve transitional traits that help explain how these lineages diversified so rapidly during the Middle Pleistocene.
Fossil sites across China, the Philippines, South Africa, and north-east Asia reveal a picture of extraordinary diversity, with several distinct human species potentially living side by side. Whether these represent entirely separate species or variations within a single, evolving lineage remains a subject of lively scientific debate.
Thanks to advances in imaging and analysis, researchers are now pushing the timeline of human evolution in Asia back by hundreds of thousands of years. The story of Yunxian 2 not only sheds light on the elusive Denisovan lineage, but also underscores the complex, branching paths that ultimately led to the rise of Homo sapiens.