Scientists have just published a study on what may prove to be China's oldest human fossil. The researchers used micro-CT, geometric morphometry and classical morphology techniques to study Gongwangling (Shaanxi Province, Shaanxi Province) on the vast plain on the northern slope

Scientists have just published a study on what may prove to be China's oldest human fossil . The researchers used micro-CT, geometric morphology metrology and classic morphology techniques to study Gongwangling (Shaanxi Province, Shaanxi Province) on the vast plain on the northern slope of Kunling Mountains, which was discovered by scientist Woo Ju-Kang in 1963. . The age of the site was reassessed in 2015 through regional paleomagnetic studies. These data indicate that the Gongwangling ruins date back to 1.6 million years ago, so they may belong to one of the earliest humans to colonize what is now China

. New research shows similarities between Gongwangling's teeth and those from more recent sites in China: Meipu and Quyuanhekou; but some variability also emerges, suggesting differences between Homo erectus populations that colonized Asia during the Pleistocene. There is some diversity.

The Gongwangling skull exhibits all the characteristics described for Homo erectus : low and long skull, with very thick bones protecting a brain of approximately 780 cubic centimeters ; steeply sloping forehead, with pronounced The brow arch , forming a kind of double visor above the eyes; the flattened parietal rising apically to produce the sagittal keel; the maximum parietal thickness at the base of the skull is incomplete, but reconstructions show this piece. How the bones suddenly turn has formed the base of the skull.

The importance of this new work lies in the lack of information about the early colonization of Asia. The site of Dmanisi (Republic of Georgia) provides very important evidence for the earliest inhabitants of Asia, who were ca. Arriving from Africa 2 million years ago, more information is needed to link Dmanisi to the typical groups of Homo erectus in China (Hexian, Yiyuan, Xichuan or Zhoukoudian), which lived between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago. of this huge continent.

"The Gongwangling site helps bridge this huge lapse of time, suggesting that Asia may have been colonized by successive populations of Homo erectus species at different times in the Pleistocene," Paleontology Project Coordinator José María Bermúdez de Castro commented on CENIEH