Yunxian 2 skull links Asian hominins to Homo longi lineage

A newly reconstructed skull from central China that dates to roughly 940,000 to 1.1 million years ago has prompted researchers to rework key chapters of human evolution, suggesting the fossil belongs to an Asian lineage closely related to modern humans. The specimen, known as Yunxian 2, was recovered from the Hanjiang River in Yunyang district, Shiyan City, Hubei Province. Using CT scanning and digital reconstruction to correct crushing and fractures, the research team reports in Science that the skull shares traits with the Homo longi clade, a sister lineage to Homo sapiens, and may lie close to the split between those lineages.

The Yunxian skulls were excavated in 1989 and 1990; one fragmentary specimen, Yunxian 1, is highly deformed, while Yunxian 2 retained smaller fractures and missing pieces that the researchers digitally repaired, partly drawing on information from the other finds. The reconstructed Yunxian 2 shows a long, low braincase with a relatively large cranial volume for its age, narrow spacing between the eye sockets, a pronounced depression between the brows, a receding forehead behind a strong browridge, flat forward-facing cheekbones and a large projecting...