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SUNDAY SCIENCE: STUDY OF 1M-YEAR-OLD SKULL POINTS TO EARLIER ORIGINS
OF MODERN HUMANS  
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Hannah Devlin
September 25, 2025
The Guardian
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_ Skull found in China may be Homo longi, potentially revising
understanding of human evolution _

An artist’s impression of what Homo longi, or dragon man, may have
looked like., Chuang Zhao/Eurekalert/AFP/Getty Images

 

A million-year-old human skull suggests that the origins of modern
humans may reach back far deeper in time than previously thought and
raises the possibility that _Homo sapiens_ first emerged outside of
Africa.

Leading scientists reached this conclusion after reanalysis of a skull
known as Yunxian 2 discovered in China and previously classified as
belonging to a member of the primitive human species _Homo erectus_.

After applying sophisticated reconstruction techniques to the skull,
scientists believe that it may instead belong to a group called _Homo
longi _(dragon man), closely linked to the elusive Denisovans who
lived alongside our own ancestors.

This repositioning would make the fossil the closest on record to the
split between modern humans and our closest relatives, the
Neanderthals and Denisovans, and would radically revise understanding
of the last 1m years of human evolution.

Prof Chris Stringer, an anthropologist and research leader in human
evolution at the Natural History Museum in London, said: “This
changes a lot of thinking because it suggests that by 1m years ago our
ancestors had already split into distinct groups, pointing to a much
earlier and more complex human evolutionary split than previously
believed. It more or less doubles the time of origin of _Homo
sapiens_.”

The skull was first unearthed in Hubei province in 1990, badly crushed
and difficult to interpret. Based on its age and some broad-brush
traits, it was assigned as _Homo erectus_, a group that is thought to
have contained direct ancestors of modern humans.

The latest work used advanced CT imaging, high-resolution surface
scanning and sophisticated digital techniques to produce a virtual
reconstruction of the skull. The skull’s large, squat brain case and
jutting lower jaw are reminiscent of _Homo erectus_. But the overall
shape and size of the brain case and teeth appear to place it much
closer to _Homo longi_, a species that scientists have recently
argued
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incorporate the Denisovans.

This would push the split between our own ancestors, Neanderthals
and _Homo longi_ back by at least 400,000 years and, according to
Springer, raises the possibility that our common ancestor – and
potentially the first _Homo sapiens_ – lived in western Asia
rather than Africa.

“This fossil is the closest we’ve got to the ancestor of all those
groups,” Stringer said.

A computational analysis of a wider selection of fossils suggests that
in the last 800,000 years, large-brained humans evolved along just
five major branches: Asian erectus, heidelbergensis, sapiens,
Neanderthals and _Homo longi_ (including the Denisovans).

“We feel that this study is a landmark step towards resolving the
‘muddle in the middle’ [the confusing array of human fossils from
between 1m and 300,000 years ago] that has preoccupied
palaeoanthropologists for decades,” Stringer said.

The findings run counter to some recent analyses based on genetic
comparisons of living humans and ancient DNA, meaning the conclusions
are likely to be contentious.

Dr Frido Welker, an associate professor in human evolution at the
University of Copenhagen, who was not involved in the research, said:
“It’s exciting to have a digital reconstruction of this important
cranium available. If confirmed by additional fossils and genetic
evidence, the divergence dating would be surprising indeed.
Alternatively, molecular data from the specimen itself could provide
insights confirming or disproving the authors’ morphological
hypothesis.”

The findings are published in the journal Science
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_HANNAH DEVLIN is the Guardian's science correspondent. She has a PhD
in biomedical imaging from the University of Oxford. Hannah also
presents the Science Weekly podcast
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China for First Time Promises to Reduce Its Greenhouse Gas Emissions
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Somini Sengupta
New York Times
President Xi Jinping told a U.N. climate summit that China will reduce
emissions across its economy, expand renewables sixfold and make
electric cars “mainstream.”
September 24, 2025

* Science
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* anthropology
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* human evolution
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