Million-year-old skull rewrites human evolution, scientists claim
15 hours ago
- #archaeology
- #human evolution
- #paleontology
- A million-year-old human skull found in China suggests Homo sapiens emerged at least half a million years earlier than previously thought.
- The skull, named Yunxian 2, was initially thought to belong to Homo erectus but is now considered an early version of Homo longi, a sister species to Neanderthals and Homo sapiens.
- This discovery implies that Homo sapiens, Neanderthals, and Homo longi coexisted for around 800,000 years, much longer than previously believed.
- The analysis of Yunxian 2 used both skull shape and genetic data, but some experts caution that the timing estimates remain uncertain.
- The findings could help classify previously hard-to-place fossils from 800,000 to 100,000 years ago, resolving the 'muddle in the middle' of human evolution.
- The skull was restored using computer modeling and 3D printing, revealing its true shape and leading to its reclassification.