Homo erectus reached China 600 ky earlier than previously believed

Continuning with this series of posts on new findings in Asia, a paper published on February 18, 2026 (Hua Tu et al. (2026). The oldest in situ Homo erectus crania in eastern Asia: The Yunxian site dates to ~1.77 Ma. Sci. Adv. 12, eady2270. DOI:10.1126/sciadv.ady2270) reports that three skulls belonging to Homo erectus recovered from Yunxian, China were dated to an age of 1.77 million years. This is roughly 600,000 years older than previous estimates.

This new dating is very relevant because it shows a rapid expansion of these hominids across Asia: The oldest remains of erectus are found in Georgia (the Dmanisi site) and are 1.78 to 1.85 Ma. The remains from Indonesia are younger, for instance those from Sanigran are 1.5 to 1.66 Ma., and the age assigned to Chinese remains is close to 1.3 Ma.

Interestingly, this paper mentions two sites in China older than 2.1 million years: "Further, the earliest archaeological traces, as represented by Xihoudu [~2.4 Ma;] and Shangchen [~2.1 Ma]." This could imply a very early out of Africa migration of austraolpithecines perhaps! (see my post on erectus and australopiths in Dmanisi, Georgia).

Yunxian site is on the Han River, in Central China. The paper concludes that:

"The age for Yunxian also indicates that H. erectus at ~1.77 Ma was much more widespread than just Dmanisi in Georgia, although the latter site, at the top of the Olduvai subchron (1.78 to 1.85 Ma), should be slightly older. This supports a rapid dispersal model of H. erectus through Asia beginning after 2 Ma. As the dates for these hominin sites continue to be pushed back in time, it would suggest that the chronological gap between the earliest archaeology at sites like Xihoudu [~2.43 Ma] and Shangchen [~2.1 Ma] and hominin paleontology in China is quickly narrowing. Questions remain, however, as to when and where H. erectus initially appeared and could they have been among the earliest occupants at some of these sites in China and elsewhere that now date to the early Early Pleistocene. If not, then should we be considering alternative hominins as the possible earliest occupants of Asia, particularly because the earliest sites in Asia now predate the traditionally accepted appearance of Homo ergaster/H. erectus (~1.9 Ma). The dates for Yunxian presented here represent a step forward to addressing such questions."

An earlier presence of Homo or australopithecines in East Asia opens the door to a continued migration into America 1.7 to 2.1 million years ago.

The two older sites ~2 Ma

The two sites mentioned further up, over two million years old are linked to the following sources:

G. J. Shen, Y. R. Wang, H. Tu, H. W. Tong, Z. K. Wu, K. Kuman, D. Fink, D. E. Granger, Isochron 26Al/10Be burial dating of Xihoudu: Evidence for the earliest human settlement in northern China. Anthropologie 124, 102790 (2020).
Z. Zhu, R. Dennell, W. Huang, Y. Wu, S. Qiu, S. Yang, Z. Rao, Y. Hou, J. Xie, J. Han, T. Ouyang, Hominin occupation of the Chinese Loess Plateau since about 2.1 million years ago. Nature 559, 608–612 (2018).

I will look into them in a future post, and also, look int the possible origin of the homo group in Asia, instead of Africa.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2026 by Austin Whittall © 

Australopiths and Homo may have coexisted in Dmanisi 1.8 My ago

The Dmanisi site in Georgia, in the Caucasus region has produced many fossil remains whose exact position in our ancestral tree is still being debated. These are the oldest hominin remains discovered out of Africa, and reveal that our ancestors left Africa as soon as they could.

A paper published on Dec. 3, 2025 (Nery V, Neves W, Valota L, Hubbe M (2025) Testing the taxonomy of Dmanisi hominin fossils through dental crown area. PLoS One 20(12): e0336484. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0336484) studied the teeth of the Dmanisi hominin remains (H. Georgicus), and suggests that more than one species of hominins lived in Dmanisi, Georgia.

After analyzing teeth shapes the authors found that one specimen (D4500-D2600) shows strong affinities with australopiths, while others (D2282-D211 and D2700-D2735) are associated to Homo species. Based on this the paper suggests that "two distinct taxa coexist[ed] at the Dmanisi site, previously proposed to be Homo georgicus and Homo caucasi."

This conclusion has interesting implications regarding the first Out Of Africa migrations which until now have been attributed to our ancient ancestor, Homo erectus. The authors of this paper state the following:

"Although our analyses did not formally test the phylogenetic history of the Pleistocene Georgian hominins, the proposal of more than one species in the Dmanisi fossil assemblage has implications for the dispersal of the genus Homo out of Africa in the beginning of the Pleistocene. It is traditionally accepted that the Homo erectus migration started in Kenya (Turkana) around 1.89 Ma, reached Georgia (Dmanisi) around 1.77 Ma, continued into eastern Eurasia (Yuanmou) around 1.7 Ma, and finally arrived to Indonesia (Sangiran) by ~1.57 Ma. However, the speciation events that led to the evolution of more than one species in Dmanisi requires that lineages were separated for long periods after leaving Africa, and were likely also evolving in response to different selective environments.
...
If the Dmanisi specimens cannot be taxonomically grouped with Homo erectus, it raises the possibility that early Homo evolution had multiple episodes of cladogenesis, where some of them may have started in Africa, and others outside Africa. Of particular interest to this discussion is the high similarity between the D4500-D2600 specimen and australopiths, which suggests either a retention of the ancestral dental proportions of australopiths in Dmanisi, or an evolutionary convergence after the initial differentiation of early Homo. With the evidence available, it is not possible to properly evaluate if Homo georgicus and Homo caucasi evolved from Homo erectus ancestors, or if they evolved from australopith-like ancestors, but alternative scenarios are worth exploring and considering as new early Homo fossils are discovered in Asia."

The paper also mentions evidence of an earlier expansion out of Africa, signalled by more primitive stone technology, the Oldowan, which is older than the Acheulean tool kit of the H. erectus: "Recent discoveries of Oldowan tools and associated cut marks in Jordan and Romania, respectively, predate the arrival of Homo erectus to these regions, offering further support for the presence of earlier hominin species in the north of or even outside of Africa [16,56,57]"

The citations 16, 56, and 57 are the following:

16.Neves W, Senger MH, Valota L, Hubbe M. Revisiting the cranial variability of the Dmanisi hominins. Anthropol Rev. 2024;87(2):113–25.

56.Parenti F, Varejao FG, Scardia G, Okumura M, Araujo A, Ferreira Guedes CC, et al. The Oldowan of Zarqa Valley, Northern Jordan. J Paleolit Archaeol. 2024;7(1):3.

57.Curran SC, Dragusin V, Pobiner B, Pante M, Hellstrom J, Woodhead J, et al. Hominin presence in Eurasia by at least 1.95 million years ago. Nat Commun. 2025;16(1):836. pmid:39833162

Consequences of Australopithecines in Georgia

An earlier presence of archaic Australopith hominins in Eurasia opens the door to the evolution (outside of Africa) of Homo erectus there from an earlier wave who peopled the area. H. erectus probably originated in Eurasia and later moved "into Africa", as well as moving "around Eurasia", possibly following the steps of these Australopithecines (why would they have only trekked to Georgia? They could have even reached East Asia or Sunda, Sahul... and America). If the Australopiths were part of the first migration out of Africa, maybe 2 Million years ago, it opens up many new, unexpected options for the peopling of the world, and the origin of "Homo".

My previous posts on Dmanisi and H. Georgicus:

The First Asians were not H. erectus

Homo habilis left Africa 2.4 million years ago

H. erectus in Georgia 1.8 Ma (Kvemo Orozmani site). Aug. 2025 discovery

Homo georgicus revisited: An ancient peopling of Eurasia

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2026 by Austin Whittall © 

Homo georgicus revisited: An ancient peopling of Eurasia

The first hominins to leave Africa were discovered in Georgia, in the Caucasus. A paper published in March 2025 suggests that not all the remains of found in the cave in Georgia belong to this Homo georgicus species, and tries to place these specimens on the hominin phylogenetic tree.

I have posted on H. georgicus in 2011 and 2019. But science advances and new discoveries arise so it is time to take another look at Georgicus.

Source: Where do the Dmanisi hominins fit on the human evolutionary tree? Debbie Argue, José María Bermúdez de Castro, Michael S. Y. Lee, Maria Martinón-Torres bioRxiv 2025.03.01.639363; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.03.01.639363

I quote part of their paper below.

"Conclusions
The Dmanisi hominins are often included in H. erectus or H. erectus s. l. /H. ergaster, notwithstanding that they are formally designated as Homo georgicus with D4500_D2600 as the holotype. In our phylogenetic analyses, none of the Dmanisi hominins form a sister taxon to either H. erectus or H. ergaster. We hypothesise that the Dmanisi hominins did not share a unique common ancestor with H. erectus or H. ergaster, and we cannot support their attribution to either of those species.
Although all the Dmanisi hominins are attributed to a single species, the morphological variation evident among them has prompted questions about their heterogeneity with discussion focusing on whether one species or two are represented. We approached this question using phylogenetic analyses and by exploring further lines of evidence. Although our phylogenetic analyses did not lead us to propose two species among the Dmanisi hominins, there are nevertheless morphologically significant differences in the cranium, mandible and dentition of the individual represented by D4500_D2600 and the other Dmanisi hominins that are consistent with the view that D4500_D2600 represents a separate species. These are the unique and perplexing pattern of sexual dimorphism evident in the endocranial capacities of the assemblage when considered as one species; the dichotomy in mandibular molar size sequences; and in the presence of both a primitive and a derived form in the mandibular structures among the assemblage. We also note that D4500_D2600, in terms of character distances, is more similar to other hominins, including H. floresiensis, than it is to the other Dmanisi individuals.
We propose that the most parsimonious hypothesis for the Dmanisi hominins is that two species are present among the assemblage: Homo georgicus comprising D4500_D2600 and an un-named species comprising the other Dmanisi hominins: D2280, D2282_D211, D2700_D2735 and D3444_ D3900. The alternative hypothesis, that the assemblage comprises a single species, requires substantial paradigm shifts in our definition of Homo.
We surmise that the first hominin species at Dmanisi was H. georgicus, and that the species was probably present by 1.8 Ma. The other hominins, D2280, D2282_D211, D2700_D2735 and D3444_ D3900, accumulated at some time or times during the reverse polarity of 1.07 Ma and 1.77 Ma.
The specific ages of D2280, D2282_D211, D2700_D2735 and D3444_ D3900, however, remain unknown. Dating of the volcanic ashes in which each hominin was recovered, together with dating the ashes in the overlying strata to find the minimum date for the hominins, would likely produce a more refined understanding of the chronology for the Dmanisi hominins."

The link to the Flores Island hobbit is interesting, and also the lack of relationship with H. erectus and H. ergaster. Who, as we see below are more recent. The phylogenetic trees in the paper suggest that H. georgicus is on a branch that split earlier from the one leading to H. habilis, H. erectus, H. ergaster, and H. sapiens. Pictured below

Fig 1. Tree H. georgicus and other hominins.

Ancient Hominins in Eurasia

Georgicus was the first early hominin to be discovered in Eurasia, and older than the H. erectus remains found in Indonesia and China. They were the first to venture out of Africa.

But Georgicus wasn't alone in Eurasia. There are many sites around 2 million years old. Some of them have hominin remains associated to them, others have tools or bones suggesting human action on them. See this paper published in Nature in January 2025 as an example. It includes the following image with ancient sites and what markers were used to identify hominin presence (Fig. 5). Note that the other "oldest" remains found are H. erectus, suggesting that Georgicus came first.

So, which ancient hominin left Africa? Was it H. georgicus if he appeared in Africa and migrated to the Caucasus, or even more primitive australopithecines that evolved into H. georgicus in Asia?

Ferring et al. (2011) suggested that Georgicus predates H. erectus in Africa: "Dmanisi's first occupations to shortly after 1.85 Ma and document repeated use of the site over the last half of the Olduvai subchron, 1.85–1.78 Ma. These discoveries show that the southern Caucasus was occupied repeatedly before Dmanisi's hominin fossil assemblage accumulated, strengthening the probability that this was part of a core area for the colonization of Eurasia. The secure age for Dmanisi's first occupations reveals that Eurasia was probably occupied before Homo erectus appears in the East African fossil record."

Argue et al. confirm it with their phylogenetic trees. Homo georgicus was not a subspecies of erectus, it was located on a branch that split from some common ancestor of Homo habilis and later H. erectus.

Did a back-migration into Africa of the Georgicus hominins lead to the appearance of H. habilis there? In that case it would be an In &: Out of Eurasia-Africa that led to more evolved hominins.

Further studies will provide additional information.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2025 by Austin Whittall © 

Stone tools 2.6 My old in Northern India... Who made them?

Thank you NeilB for drawing my attention to this paper: The first Indo-French Prehistorical Mission in Siwaliks and the discovery of anthropic activities at 2.6 million years, Anne Dambricourt Malasse, Comptes Rendus Palevol, Volume 15, Issues 3–4, February–March 2016, Pages 281-294, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crpv.2015.12.001.

It is quite controversial to say the least. It discusses some remains and stone tools 2.6 Million years old found at the foot of the Himalayas in NW India, in the village of Masol

I will quote some parts of this paper:

"In the African paradigm, the most probable cradle of Homo genus is the north of the Rift Valley, rather than Central and South Africa.
The first Asian paradigm is interesting. The comparison between the geographical distribution of fossil apes and the oldest human occupations including Riwat, shows clearly a superposition (Fig. 2). The partial mandible of Longgupo was first assigned to a descendant from Homo habilis, then, a dozen of years later, to a "mystery ape". This revision arose from the paradigm of “Out of Africa” dating from 1.8 Ma; "such classifications are always open to interpretation. But I am now convinced that the Longgupo fossil and others like it do not represent a pre-erectus human, but rather one or more mystery apes indigenous to southeast Asia's Pleistocene primal forest. In contrast, H. erectus arrived in Asia about 1.6 million years ago." (Ciochon, 2009)."

The tools found at the site (see image below -from Dambricourt's paper) are chopped pebbles or cobbles similar to those of the Oldowan stone technology, the oldest known stone tools:

The 2.6 MY old tools.

The paper concludes: "These hominines were familiar with an environment regularly exposed to monsoon and floods in the plain, where Himalayan rivers provided carrion for meat, grease, marrow and also raw material for the stone tools. Insofar as, on the ground, there is no hard stone other than the quartzite pebbles with a mean size of 15 cm, hominins likely used the direct percussion that gives an idea of their muscle power. The hominins of Masol had a good anatomical knowledge of the carrion as shown by the marks on the bones, which reveal organized, agile and precise gestures. The discovery of anthropic scavenging activity in Siwaliks dating from 2.6 Ma raises now the question of the geographic and phyletic origins of these hominines."

I am not so positive about an Asian origin of these hominins, but they may represent an early dispersal out of Africa of Australopithecines or Homo habilis, earlier than formerly believed.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2019 by Austin Whittall © 

Hominins in China 2.1 Million years ago... pushing back the dates in Asia

The paper Hominin occupation of the Chinese Loess Plateau since about 2.1 million years ago by Zhaoyu Zhu et al, published today in Nature, is very interesting as it pushes back the date of an early hominin migration into Asia well beyond the Dmanisi hominins found in Georgia:

The abstract states:

"Considerable attention has been paid to dating the earliest appearance of hominins outside Africa. The earliest skeletal and artefactual evidence for the genus Homo in Asia currently comes from Dmanisi, Georgia, and is dated to approximately 1.77–1.85 million years ago (Ma). Two incisors that may belong to Homo erectus come from Yuanmou, south China, and are dated to 1.7 Ma; the next-oldest evidence is an H. erectus cranium from Lantian (Gongwangling)—which has recently been dated to 1.63 Ma—and the earliest hominin fossils from the Sangiran dome in Java, which are dated to about 1.5–1.6 Ma. Artefacts from Majuangou III5 and Shangshazui6 in the Nihewan basin, north China, have also been dated to 1.6–1.7 Ma. Here we report an Early Pleistocene and largely continuous artefact sequence from Shangchen, which is a newly discovered Palaeolithic locality of the southern Chinese Loess Plateau, near Gongwangling in Lantian county. The site contains 17 artefact layers that extend from palaeosol S15—dated to approximately 1.26 Ma—to loess L28, which we date to about 2.12 Ma. This discovery implies that hominins left Africa earlier than indicated by the evidence from Dmanisi."

And this is in China, surely the hominins who made those tools reached western Eurasia far earlier than the 2.12 My age assigned to those tools. Which may imply that they were not Homo erectus, maybe Homo habilis or even an australopithecine species! (maybe the ancestors of the primitive Flores island "Hobbit").

Maybe there are older tools at the site. The ones found are cobbles similar to those found in Africa with a similar age.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2018 by Austin Whittall ©