New dates on Chinese fossils raise question of how many times we left Africa

Recent findings from Yunxian, located in northern China, have turned previous assumptions on their head regarding early human ancestors. Two skulls once believed to be linked to Denisovans have been reclassified as the oldest known Homo erectus fossils in eastern Asia, dating back approximately 1.77 million years. This groundbreaking discovery suggests that Homo erectus, an extinct species that shares a common ancestor with modern humans, Neanderthals, and Denisovans, dispersed across Asia significantly earlier and more rapidly than previously thought. The implications of this new timeline also provide insight into the origins of stone tool creation at earlier archaeological sites in China. Yunxian, a site of considerable archaeological significance along the Han River, has yielded not only these skulls but also numerous stone tools and animal remains. Researchers, led by paleoanthropologist Hua Tu from Shantou University, utilized isotopic analysis of aluminum-26 and beryllium-10 within quartz grains from the sediment surrounding the skulls to arrive at this new dating. The findings indicate that Homo erectus thrived along the Han River around 1.77 million years ago, only 130,000 years after the species first emerged in Africa. This sedimentary environment has been accumulating layers of silt and gravel for over two million years, adding to the site's intrigue. Previously, the oldest hominin remains found outside of Africa were five skulls and additional bones from Dmanisi Cave in Georgia, estimated to be between 1.85 million and 1.77 million years old, which are likely also associated with Homo erectus. Until now, the earliest fossils outside Africa were from Gongwangling, another Chinese site, dating back 1.63 million years. This new evidence suggests that rather than a gradual migration over 140,000 years, early hominins may have coexisted in Georgia and central China around the same period, indicating a much faster dispersal than anthropologists had recognized.