| This study evaluates the phylogenetic significance of two fossil human crania from Yunxian, Hubei, China. The two crania, curated by Prof. Li Tianyuan of the Hubei Archeological Institute, are the most complete ever discovered in a middle Pleistocene or earlier context from the Asian mainland.;To properly assess the implications of this material for understanding the course of human evolution in east Asia I present a complete review of the Chinese fossil Hominidae based on a thorough reading of original Chinese descriptions of all material published to date, as well as personal observation of many of the original specimens.;The cranial vaults and basicrania of the Yunxian hominids retain a suite of features shared with other specimens of Asian H. erectus. In some ways, however, the Yunxian crania are reminiscent of archaic hominids from further west. In yet other respects they possess facial features seen most typically expressed in later Asian populations and their derivatives.;The disjunct spatial and temporal distribution of morphological traits used previously to differentiate Eurafrican from Asian middle Pleistocene hominids makes it, at present, impossible to discern valid criteria that can distinguish them at the species level. Beginning with the spread of humans out of Africa in the early Pleistocene and prior to the advent of modern Homo sapiens, people from throughout the world are best viewed as belonging to a single, evolving, highly polytypic, regionally distributed and racially differentiated species.;The origin of modern humans is perhaps the most vexing problem in paleoanthropology. Chinese hominids show similar trends in craniofacial transformation towards modern morphologies as occurred in Africa during the middle to late Pleistocene transition. The evolution of European hominids took a different trajectory, producing an isolated population of highly derived, cold-adapted people who may have played an insubstantial role in the subsequent evolution of the human species. The possible replacement of Neandertals by modern people should not, however, be taken as a model for the transition to modern humans in other parts of the world. East Asia in particular was a major center of human habitation, evolution and dispersal throughout the Pleistocene. |
