A fossilized skull unearthed from a riverbank in central China more than three decades ago is forcing scientists to rethink human evolution. According to a new analysis published in the journal Science, the 1-million-year-old specimen- long considered too distorted to classify- may belong to an early ancestor of the Denisovans, a mysterious population of archaic humans.

Using advanced CT scans and digital reconstruction, researchers restored the badly crushed Yunxian 2 skull from Hubei province, revealing features that connect it to “Dragon Man" (Homo longi) and the Denisovans. If correct, the findings suggest the Denisovan lineage emerged hundreds of thousands of years earlier than previously believed.

Chris Stringer, paleoanthropologist at London’s Natural History Museum, said, “This c

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