A human a one million -year -old skull found in China suggests that our species, the Homo Sapiensbegan to appear at least half a million years earlier than we thought, they argue Researchers in a new study.

It also shows that we have co -existed with other relatives such as Neanderthalalso for much more time than we thought to date.

Scientists argue that their analysis “completely changes” our understanding of human evolution and, if it is right, certainly rewriting an early but crucial chapter of our history. Other experts, however, in a field where there is often disagreement on the emergence of man on the planet, say that the conclusions are reasonable, but they are far from being considered of course.

The discovery, published in one of the world’s top scientific journals Scienceshocked the research team, which was involved in scientists from a university China and the Museum of Natural History of the United Kingdom.

“From the beginning, when we got the result, we thought it was incredible. How could he go so deep in the past?»The professor said Xijun ni of Fudan University, co-head of the analysis. “But we have tried it again again and again, controlled all the models, we used all the methods and now we are sure of the result, in fact we are very excited.‘

Yunxian 2

When the skull was found, named Yunxian 2scientists considered it to belong to an early ancestor, Homo erectusthe first man with a big brain. This is because it dated about a million years ago, long before it was thought to have more sophisticated people.

Homo erectus eventually evolved and began to separate 600,000 years ago into Neanderthals and our genre, Homo Sapiens. But the new analysis of the Yunxian 2, which was also examined by independent experts, suggests that it is not a homo erectus. Is now considered to belong to an early form of Homo Longiof a relative that was on a similar evolutionary level with Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens.

Genetic evidence shows that they have been at the same time with them. Therefore, if Yunxian 2 was walking on Earth a million years ago, scientists say, then there were probably early forms of Neanderthal and Homo Sapiens.

Shift the timetable of evolution

This stunning analysis dramatically shifted the timetable of people’s evolution with a large brain at least half a million years back, according to the teacher Chris Stringer From the Museum of Natural History, co-head of research.

He said that there is a fossils of Homo Sapiens of a million years old somewhere on the planet – we have just not found them yet.

There are two ways to identify the kind of early person and determine when he walked on Earth: study of skull shape and analysis of genetic material. In the case of Yunxian 2 both methods were used, with the same conclusion.

However, other researchers, such as Dr. Aylwyn scullyevolutionary geneticist at the University of Cambridge, say there are significant uncertainties in both methods.

“We have to be very careful with dating estimates, because they are very difficult, regardless of whether they are based on genetically or fossilized elements,” he said.

“Even with most genetic data, it is difficult to place the coexistence of these populations less than 100,000 years old or more.”

He added that, while the conclusions of Ni and Stringer teachers are reasonable, they are far from being considered and need more.

Other analyzes are required

“The picture is still unclear. If the conclusions of this study are confirmed by other analyzes, ideal and genetic data, then we will begin to have more certainty, “he told the BBC News.

The oldest known items for Homo Sapiens in Africa are age 300,000 years oldtherefore it is tempting to conclude that our species may have first appeared in Asia.

However, there is not enough evidence to confirm this at this stage, according to Professor Stringer, as there are fossils in Africa and Europe about a million years old that need to be incorporated into the analysis.

“There are some genetic data that shows even earlier appearance of our species, which may have been reunited with our own evolutionary line, but this has not yet been proven,” the BBC News told.

The new timetable means that the three human species coexisted on the planet for approximately 800,000 yearsmuch more than we thought, probably interacting and crossing in the meantime.