Yunxian Man

Yunxian 1 in the Hubei Provincial Museum, showing skull deformation
Yunxian 2 in the Hubei Provincial Museum

Yunxian Man (Chinese: 郧县人; pinyin: Yúnxiàn rén) is a set of three hominid skull fossils discovered at the Xuetangliangzi site (学堂梁子遗址; Xuétángliángzǐ Yízhǐ) in Yunyang district, Hubei, China.[1][2][3][4] Two skulls were discovered, in 1989 and 1990, followed by a third in 2022.[1][4] The first two were described as "crushed and distorted," but "relatively complete," and compared to Homo erectus or early Homo sapiens.[1] These were given collection numbers EV 9001 and EV 9002 and are sometimes referred to as "Yunxian 1" and "Yunxian 2".[5] The fossils were excavated by the Institute for Cultural Objects and Archeology of Hubei Province, the Yunyang Regional Museum (now the Shiyan City Museum), and the Yun District Museum.[4]

In June 2001, the State Council designated the Xuetangliangzi site as a major cultural heritage site under national-level protection, as part of the fifth batch of additions to the list.[4]

In late 2022, a third skull, 35 meters from the discovery site of the two original skulls, was discovered and designated "Yunxian 3".,[6] and was discovered "in good condition."[6]

The Xuetangliangzi paleontological site is at the mouth of the Quyuan River (曲远河; Qūyuǎn Hé), where it flows into the Han River, so it has also been called the Quyuan River site.[7]

In 2025, a reconstruction removing much of the distortion led a team of researchers to believe the fossils are ancestral relatives of Denisovans.[8]

Scholarly analysis

The first two skulls bear similarities to Dali Man, but are significantly older.[9][10] Adjacent animal fossils allowed their age to be narrowed down to 600,000 to 400,000 years before present.[11] Some sources have described the specimens as Homo erectus, including a 3D virtual imaging analysis in 2010.[12] However, scholars are still divided, with some suggesting that it could be a more modern species or a mix with Homo sapiens.[5][6]

The paleoanthropologist Chris Stringer has suggested that Yunxian Man could be Homo heidelbergensis, which may thus have originated in Asia, though Chinese scholars dispute this classification.[9] In 2012, Stringer speculated that Yunxian Man could be a Denisovan ancestor.[10] In a 2016 article in Scientific American, Stringer called for better access to Chinese fossil specimens such as Yunxian Man and Dali Man, such as by replicas or CT scans.[9] In 2025, a team co-led by Stringer created a reconstruction of Yunxian 2 removing much of the deformation, which led them to conclude that it was an early relative of the Denisovans; more closely related to them than it was to other known members of Homo.[8][13]

References

  1. ^ a b c Li, Tianyuan; Etler, Dennis A. (4 June 1992). "New Middle Pleistocene hominid crania from Yunxian in China". Nature. 357 (6377): 404–407. Bibcode:1992Natur.357..404T. doi:10.1038/357404a0. ISSN 1476-4687. Archived from the original on 14 April 2024. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  2. ^ de Lumley, Henry; de Lumley, Marie-Antoinette; Abdessadok, Salah; Bahain, Jean-Jacques; Batalla, Gerard (2001). "Le site de l'Homme de Yunxian" (PDF). HAL SHS. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2024-05-06. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  3. ^ 李学勤 (2006). 20世纪中国学术大典: 考古学, 博物馆学 (in Chinese). Fuzhou: 福建教育出版社. ISBN 978-7-5334-3641-4.
  4. ^ a b c d "新发现 | 湖北学堂梁子遗址考古发掘取得重大收获 发现距今100万年"郧县人"3号头骨". www.unesco-hist.org. Archived from the original on 2024-05-07. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  5. ^ a b Brown, Peter. "Yunxian Homo erectus". Peter Brown's Australian & Asian Paleoanthropology. Archived from the original on 2024-05-06. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Dyani (2022-11-29). "Ancient skull uncovered in China could be million-year-old Homo erectus". Nature. 612 (7939): 200–201. Bibcode:2022Natur.612..200L. doi:10.1038/d41586-022-04142-0. PMID 36447037. Archived from the original on 2024-05-29. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  7. ^ 李天元，王正华，李文森，冯小波，武仙竹; Li Tianyuan, Wang Zhenghua (1994-06-15). "湖北郧县曲远河口人类颅骨的形态特征及其在人类演化中的位置" [Morphological Features of Human Skulls from the Quyuan River Mouth, Yunxian, Hubei, and their Place in Human Evolution]. 人类学学报 (in Chinese). 13 (2): 104. ISSN 1000-3193.
  8. ^ a b Feng, Xiaobo; Yin, Qiyu; Gao, Feng; Lu, Dan; Fang, Qin; Feng, Yilu; Huang, Xuchu; Tan, Chen; Zhou, Hanwen; Li, Qiang; Zhang, Chi; Stringer, Chris; Ni, Xijun (25 September 2025). "The phylogenetic position of the Yunxian cranium elucidates the origin of Homo longi and the Denisovans". Science. 389 (6767): 1320–1324. doi:10.1126/science.ado9202. Retrieved 25 September 2025.
  9. ^ a b c Qiu, Jane (13 July 2016). "How China Is Rewriting the Book on Human Origins". Scientific American. Archived from the original on 2024-05-06. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  10. ^ a b Stringer, Chris (20 June 2012). "The status of Homo heidelbergensis (Schoetensack 1908)". Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews. 21 (3): 101–107. doi:10.1002/evan.21311. ISSN 1060-1538. PMID 22718477. Archived from the original on 24 March 2024. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  11. ^ Brown, Peter (2001). "10: Chinese Middle Pleistocene hominids and modern human origins in east Asia". Human Roots: Africa and Asia in the Middle Pleistocene (PDF). Bristol: Bristol: Western Academic & Specialist Press Ltd. pp. 135–147. ISBN 0953541843. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-04-06. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  12. ^ Vialet, Amélie; Guipert, Gaspard; Jianing, He; Xiaobo, Feng; Zune, Lu; Youping, Wang; Tianyuan, Li; de Lumley, Marie-Antoinette; de Lumley, Henry (29 September 2010). "Homo erectus from the Yunxian and Nankin Chinese sites: Anthropological insights using 3D virtual imaging techniques". Comptes Rendus Palevol. 9 (6–7): 331–339. Bibcode:2010CRPal...9..331V. doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2010.07.017. ISSN 1631-0683. Archived from the original on 29 May 2024. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  13. ^ Ghosh, Pallab (25 September 2025). "Million-year-old skull rewrites human evolution, say scientists". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 25 September 2025.
allikas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yunxian_Man