Homo Erectus Presence in East Asia Redefined: Timeline Pushed Back to 1.7 Million Years

Groundbreaking paleoanthropological data published on February 18, 2026, in the journal Science Advances, has fundamentally altered our understanding of early hominin presence in East Asia. The research, which centers on Homo erectus fossils discovered in Yunxian, China, has established their age at approximately 1.7 million years. This new dating pushes the previously accepted chronological boundary back by a staggering 600,000 years, as earlier estimates for the oldest fossils in this specific region were placed at roughly 1.1 million years.

This discovery provides substantial support for the hypothesis that Homo erectus dispersed rapidly from Africa into various Eurasian territories. Professor Christopher J. Bae from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, one of the study's lead authors, noted that these findings allow for a "sufficiently robust reconstruction of the dating" regarding when these hominins first appeared in East Asia. A pivotal methodological breakthrough in this research was the application of cosmogenic nuclide dating. This sophisticated technique involved measuring the ratio of Aluminum-26 (Al-26) to Beryllium-10 (Be-10) isotopes within quartz minerals found in the sedimentary layers surrounding the fossils.

The advanced cosmogenic nuclide dating method allows scientists to pinpoint exactly how much time has passed since a material was buried and shielded from cosmic radiation. Lead author Hua Tu, who is affiliated with both the Institute of Marine Sciences at Shantou University and the College of Geographic Sciences at Nanjing Normal University, explained that these isotopes are produced by cosmic rays. Their subsequent radioactive decay after burial provides a clock for calculating age. This specific approach is critically important for dating archaeological sites that far exceed the 50,000-year limit of traditional radiocarbon analysis.

This revised chronology aligns the Yunxian findings with some of the earliest known Homo erectus remains in Asia, such as those found in Dmanisi, Georgia, which are dated between 1.78 and 1.85 million years ago. According to the researchers, this correlation reinforces the theory of the species' swift movement across the Asian continent. Professor Bae emphasized that these results challenge long-standing assumptions about the timing of hominin migration out of Africa and their eventual settlement in Asia. The study, which received support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the National Science Foundation of the United States, highlights the vital role of methodological advancements in modern archaeology.

Consequently, the Yunxian fossils, now dated to at least 1.7 million years ago, have become a cornerstone in the complex puzzle of early human evolution. They suggest a much earlier and perhaps more successful expansion of our ancestors beyond the African continent than previously believed. While scientists acknowledge that the exact beginning and end of the Homo erectus presence in the region remains a mystery, these findings open up promising new avenues for future paleoanthropological investigations.