Humans may have split from our ancient forebears 400,000 years earlier than previously believed and in Asia rather than Africa, according to a new study released on Friday that included a computer reconstruction of a million-year-old skull.
The results could settle the long-standing “Muddle in the Middle” of human evolution, according to academics, and are based on a reconstruction of a crushed skull found in China in 1990.
Previously, it was believed that the skull, known as Yunxian 2, belonged to Homo erectus, a precursor to modern humans.
But modern reconstruction technologies used by a group of researchers found features that are closer to species previously thought to have existed only later in human evolution, including the recently discovered Homo longi and our own Homo sapiens.
“This changes a lot of thinking,” said Chris Stringer, an anthropologist at the Natural History Museum, London, who was part of the research team.
“It suggests that by one million years ago, our ancestors had already split into distinct groups, pointing to a much earlier and more complex human evolutionary split than previously believed,” he added.
If the findings are correct, it suggests there could have been much earlier members of other early hominins, including Neanderthals and our own Homo sapiens line.
But it also “muddies the waters” on longstanding assumptions that early humans dispersed from Africa, said Michael Petraglia, director of Griffith University’s Australian Research Centre of Human Evolution, who was not involved in the study.
“There’s a big change potentially happening here, where east Asia is now playing a very key role in hominin evolution,” he told AFP.
The study, which was published in the journal Science, modeled a full Yunxian 2 using sophisticated CT scanning, structural light imaging, and virtual reconstruction techniques.
Before comparing their model to more than 100 other specimens, the researchers partially based it on a similar skull.
According to the study, the resultant model “shows a distinctive combination of traits,” some of which are comparable to those of Homo erectus, such as a protruding lower face.
But other aspects, including its apparently larger brain capacity, are closer to Homo longi and Homo sapiens, the researchers said.
“Yunxian 2 may help us resolve what’s been called the ‘Muddle in the Middle,’ the confusing array of human fossils from between 1 million and 300,000 years ago,” Stringer said in a press release.
Much about human evolution remains debated, and Petraglia said the study’s findings were “provocative” though grounded in solid work.
“It’s sound, but I think the jury’s still out. I think there will be a lot of questions raised,” he said.
The results are merely the most recent in a series of studies that have challenged our preconceived notions about our beginnings.
Only in 2021 was Homo longi, popularly referred to as “Dragon Man,” recognized as a new species and close relative of humans.
According to the authors, their work demonstrates the intricacy of our common past.
“Fossils like Yunxian 2 show just how much we still have to learn about our origins,” said Stringer.
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