Overview

• Researchers digitally rebuilt the fragmented Yunxian 2 skull, discovered in 1990 in China, using CT scans and virtual methods.
• The reconstructed anatomy shows features associated with Homo longi alongside Homo sapiens-like traits, challenging its earlier placement as Homo erectus.
• The authors propose that Homo sapiens may have diverged roughly 400,000 years earlier than previously thought, close to one million years ago.
• Expert commentary in coverage highlights a potentially central role for East Asia in early human evolution rather than an origin confined to Africa.
• The findings, published in Science, could help illuminate the poorly understood Middle Pleistocene phase of human evolution.