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.[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] In contrast, the third skull
was discovered "in good condition".[5]
Yunxian 1 in the Hubei Provincial
Museum, showing skull deformation
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.[6]

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
Yunxian 2 in the Hubei Provincial
and are sometimes referred to as "Yunxian 1" and "Yunxian 2".[7] Museum
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 late 2022, a third skull, 35 meters from the discovery site of the two original skulls, was discovered and
designated "Yunxian 3".[5]

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]

Scholarly analysis
The first two skulls bear similarities to Dali Man, but are significantly older.[8][9] Adjacent animal fossils
allowed their age to be narrowed down to 600,000 to 400,000 years before present.[10] Some sources have
described the specimens as Homo erectus, including a 3D virtual imaging analysis in 2010.[11] However,
scholars are still divided, with some suggesting that it could be a more modern species or a mix with Homo
sapiens.[7][5]
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.[8] 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.[8] In 2012, Stringer also wrote about speculation that
Yunxian Man could be a Denisovan ancestor.[9]

References
1. Li, Tianyuan; Etler, Dennis A. (4 June 1992). "New Middle Pleistocene hominid crania from
Yunxian in China" (https://www.nature.com/articles/357404a0). Nature. 357 (6377): 404–407.
Bibcode:1992Natur.357..404T (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1992Natur.357..404T).
doi:10.1038/357404a0 (https://doi.org/10.1038%2F357404a0). ISSN 1476-4687 (https://ww
w.worldcat.org/issn/1476-4687). Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20240414005706/http
s://www.nature.com/articles/357404a0) 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" (https://shs.hal.science/file/index/do
cid/360908/filename/site_de_l_homme_de_Yunxian_de_Lumley_et_alii.pdf) (PDF). HAL
SHS. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20240506074600/https://shs.hal.science/file/ind
ex/docid/360908/filename/site_de_l_homme_de_Yunxian_de_Lumley_et_alii.pdf) (PDF)
from the original on 2024-05-06. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
3. 李学勤 世纪中国学术大典 考古学 博物馆学
(2006). 20 : , (https://books.google.com/books?id=
KtB7iumTYcsC&dq=%22%E6%9B%B2%E8%BF%9C%E6%B2%B3%22&pg=RA1-PA88)
福建教育出版社
(in Chinese). Fuzhou: . ISBN 978-7-5334-3641-4.
4. "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 万年 郧县人 号头骨
| 100 " "3 " (http
s://www.unesco-hist.org/index.php?r=article/info&id=2324). www.unesco-hist.org. Archived
(https://web.archive.org/web/20240507114831/https://www.unesco-hist.org/index.php?r=artic
le/info&id=2324) from the original on 2024-05-07. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
5. Lewis, Dyani (2022-11-29). "Ancient skull uncovered in China could be million-year-old
Homo erectus" (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-04142-0). Nature. 612 (7939):
200–201. Bibcode:2022Natur.612..200L (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2022Natur.612..2
00L). doi:10.1038/d41586-022-04142-0 (https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fd41586-022-04142-0).
PMID 36447037 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36447037). Archived (https://web.archive.
org/web/20240529075316/https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-04142-0) from the
original on 2024-05-29. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
6. 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 " (https://www.anthropol.ac.cn/
CN/abstract/abstract725.shtml) [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 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1000-3193).
7. Brown, Peter. "Yunxian Homo erectus" (https://www.peterbrown-palaeoanthropology.net/yun
xian.html). Peter Brown's Australian & Asian Paleoanthropology. Archived (https://web.archiv
e.org/web/20240506083901/https://www.peterbrown-palaeoanthropology.net/yunxian.html)
from the original on 2024-05-06. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
8. Qiu, Jane (13 July 2016). "How China Is Rewriting the Book on Human Origins" (https://ww
w.scientificamerican.com/article/how-china-is-rewriting-the-book-on-human-origins/).
Scientific American. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20240506083901/https://www.sci
entificamerican.com/article/how-china-is-rewriting-the-book-on-human-origins/) from the
original on 2024-05-06. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
 9. Stringer, Chris (20 June 2012). "The status of Homo heidelbergensis (Schoetensack 1908)"
(https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/evan.21311). Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues,
News, and Reviews. 21 (3): 101–107. doi:10.1002/evan.21311 (https://doi.org/10.1002%2Fe
van.21311). ISSN 1060-1538 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1060-1538). PMID 22718477 (ht
tps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22718477). Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/202403241
83130/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/evan.21311) from the original on 24 March
2024. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
10. Brown, Peter (2001). "10: Chinese Middle Pleistocene hominids and modern human origins
in east Asia". Human Roots: Africa and Asia in the Middle Pleistocene (https://peterbrown-pal
aeoanthropology.net/Brown2001.pdf) (PDF). Bristol: Bristol: Western Academic & Specialist
Press Ltd. pp. 135–147. ISBN 0953541843. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20230406
072155/https://peterbrown-palaeoanthropology.net/Brown2001.pdf) (PDF) from the original
on 2023-04-06. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
11. 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" (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crpv.2010.07.017). Comptes Rendus
Palevol. 9 (6–7): 331–339. Bibcode:2010CRPal...9..331V (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/
2010CRPal...9..331V). doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2010.07.017 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.crpv.201
0.07.017). ISSN 1631-0683 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1631-0683). Archived (https://web.
archive.org/web/20240529075316/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S16310
68310000850?via%3Dihub) from the original on 29 May 2024. Retrieved 6 May 2024.

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