In September, Chinese researchers announced that they had found an ancient human skull earlier in the year. It was discovered about a dozen miles outside of Yunyang (formerly known as Yunxian) in central China — the same area where two other skulls were found in decades past.
Like its predecessors, the most recent find, dubbed “Yunxian Man 3” by some, likely dates to around 1 million years ago. And it seems to be in the best condition yet.
“The Yunxian fossils are the oldest in mainland Asia,” says Amélie Vialet, a paleoanthropologist with the National Museum of Natural History in Paris who has worked on some of the previous remains. The discovery of a well-preserved third skull could reveal much about the development of our ancient ancestors.
