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2h ago

Rebuilt Chinese Fossil Skull Suggests Earlier Human Lineage Split

Published in Science, the digital, morphology-only analysis invites cautious reception pending genetic confirmation.

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Un cráneo hallado en China, con una antigüedad de entre 940.000 y más de un millón de años, está desafiando las teorías clásicas sobre el origen humano.
China desafía la historia de la evolución humana con el hallazgo de un cráneo de un millón de años de antigüedad
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Overview

  • The study digitally restored the crushed Yunxian 2 skull from Hubei, discovered in 1990 and dated to roughly 940,000 to over 1,000,000 years.
  • Morphological comparisons place the specimen with an Asian Homo longi/Denisovan-like branch rather than Homo erectus.
  • Phylogenetic modeling based on cranial features suggests major Homo lineages may have diverged more than a million years ago.
  • No ancient DNA has been recovered from Yunxian 2, and outside experts, including evolutionary geneticist Aylwyn Scally, urge caution on timing and placement.
  • The project, led by Xijun Ni with Chris Stringer, used CT scanning and comparisons with over 100 fossils, with further analyses of additional Yunxian material expected.