Overview

• Virtual restoration of Yunxian 2, dated to roughly 940,000–1.1 million years old, was published in Science after decades of uncertainty.
• Morphology aligns the cranium more with Homo longi (“Dragon Man”) and the Denisovans than with classic Homo erectus.
• The study's phylogenetic model estimates a Homo sapiens–Denisovan split around 1.32 million years ago, with Neanderthals diverging earlier near 1.38 million years ago.
• Researchers used CT scanning, light imaging and digital modeling to correct severe deformation, with ages constrained by surrounding sediments and animal fossils.
• Outside specialists praised the reconstruction but questioned the far-reaching evolutionary claims, and the team plans further tests and study of a third Yunxian skull.