‘Amazing Discovery’ 1 million-year-old skull found in China

Excavations of a rare specimen continue in China. It has survived in good condition to this day. Researchers consider the discovery of an ancient human skull important enough.

Nature may help scientists better understand the family tree of archaic peoples who formerly lived in Eurasia, Nature writes.

The skull was discovered on May 20. It was located in Hubei province, just 20 km west of Yunyang. Just 35 m from this place, 2 skulls were found at the end of the 20th century.

Ameali Viale of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris examined all three skulls. He states that the newly discovered skull is in good condition. Prior to this, scientists had confirmed that the second skull was representative of an archaic human species, Homo erectus.

At the same time, dating of the animal fossil beds suggests that humans lived in Yunyang from 1.1 million to 800 thousand years ago. Homo erectus was first described using fossils from an Indonesian island. They were dated to 1.5 million years ago. There is speculation that they were the first people to want to leave Africa. Remains of this species have been found in Asia, Africa and Europe.

Yunxian 3’s skull was found in an upright position. The scientists separated the forehead, eye sockets and cheekbones of the skull. It is not yet known what is attached to the skull: the teeth or the lower jawbone. Archaeologists note that the first 2 skulls are similar to fossils from the island of Java. Others with a Homo erectus fossil from Asia. Such remains have been found in more than one place in China.

Therefore, the ancients in Yunyang could be their ancestors. But there are also distinctive features. For example, 700,000-year-old fossils found in one of the caves have a prominent protrusion that runs along the midline of the skull to support a powerful jaw. However, not all Yunnan skulls have this feature.

An interesting fact is that all three skulls are very diverse. It is assumed that its representatives may have evolved independently. Perhaps this is the result of many waves of expansion from Africa.

Lead author Vialet plans to compare the third skull with other fossils from China and Europe. This will help to keep track of relationships with other early people. .

While planning to uncover the third skull. This will happen in a few months. Dating it will be a very important task. Various methods are used for this. However, this will be a rather difficult task, as there are not enough volcanic deposits in China to reliably measure the amount of radioactive isotopes in rock.

Also, research is slowing down the tiny fossils surrounding the skull.

Previously Focus He wrote about a 3200-year-old skull found in Turkey. Scientists believe that an unusual surgical procedure can be performed on it.