Yunxian Man

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. Two skulls were discovered, in 1989 and 1990, followed by a third in 2022. The first two were described as "crushed and distorted," but "relatively complete," and compared to Homo erectus or early Homo sapiens. In contrast, the third skull was discovered "in good condition." 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.

Yunxian 1 in the Hubei Provincial Museum, showing skull deformation

Yunxian 2 in the Hubei Provincial Museum

Skulls

Two nearly complete, but heavily deformed and broken skulls were discovered in Xuetangliangzi, in 1989 and 1990. These finds were called "Yunxian Man", after the name of the local district at the time. These were given collection numbers EV 9001 and EV 9002 and are sometimes referred to as "Yunxian 1" and "Yunxian 2". 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.

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

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.

Scholarly analysis

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

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. 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. In 2012, Stringer also wrote about speculation that Yunxian Man could be a Denisovan ancestor.