Hualongdong Skull Is Latest Challenge To Dominant Human Evolution Model

Researchers created a virtual reconstruction of the mostly complete Hualongdong skull (yellow) by mirror-imaging the missing pieces (gray). Stone tools found at the site appear in lower corners of the image. (Credit: Wu Xiujie) A largely complete, roughly 300,000-year-old skull from southeastern China appears to be the latest evidence challenging the dominant model of human evolution. The Hualongdong skull's unique combination of features make the fossil a tantalizing clue to East Asia's diverse hominin history. Researchers excavating a collapsed cave site unearthed the skull, formally known as Hualongdong 6 (HLD 6), along with additional partial fossils of archaic humans and animals, plus assorted stone tools, over the last decade or so. Using the ages of surrounding mineral deposits and other material in the cave, the team determined the skull and other remains were about 300,000 years old. Unlike many East Asian archaic human fossils, which are often fragmentary, the Hualongdong ...