The scientific reconstruction of the skull fossils of Yunxian Man No. 1 and No. 2 (right) was taken on December 26. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xiao Yijiu

Prominent brow ridges, thick nose bridge, dense hair... After nearly eight years of research, Chinese scientists unveiled the scientific reconstruction of the skull fossils No. 1 and No. 2 of the "Yunxian Man" for the first time at the Hubei Provincial Museum in Wuhan on the 26th. The two skulls belonged to a woman and a man who lived a million years ago and were about 25 to 45 years old.

It is understood that the work of "High-precision Scanning and Appearance Restoration Research of Human Skull Fossils in Yunxian County, Hubei Province" was launched in June 2017. A multidisciplinary, multi-field, and cross-professional research team composed of multiple scientific research institutions such as Hubei Provincial Museum, Shanxi University, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan University, and Beijing Union University has been conducting research for nearly 8 years. The research results show that the No. 1 skull fossil is a female aged 25 to 45 years old; the No. 2 skull fossil is a male aged 25 to 45 years old.

Feng Xiaobo, a professor at the School of History and Culture of Shanxi University who participated in the excavation of the No. 2 skull fossil of the "Yunxian Man", said that based on the analysis of the No. 1 and No. 2 skull fossils of the "Yunxian Man", it is estimated that their brain capacity is 1094 ml and 1152 ml respectively, which is larger than the brain capacity of the "Peking Man" who lived about 700,000 to 200,000 years ago. Based on this, it is speculated that the "Yunxian Man" living on the banks of the Han River had a better living environment and more sufficient food supply, which was conducive to the development of the brain.

Feng Xiaobo said that the research team first used a high-precision industrial-grade scanner to scan the skull fossil multiple times and scientifically and accurately reconstructed the skull fossil model of "Yunxian Man". Then, based on the skull and the anatomical laws of the human head and face, the team used sculpture, painting, computer graphics and other modeling techniques to shape the eyes, nose, mouth, ears, skin, hair and other details on the skull model image to reconstruct the skull's appearance before death.

The Xuetangliangzi (Yunxian Man) site in Yunyang District, Shiyan City, Hubei Province, located in the foothills of the Qinling Mountains, is a fifth batch of national key cultural relics protection sites. In 1989, 1990 and 2022, three skull fossils of "Yunxian Man" dating back about 1 million years were unearthed on terraces 33 meters apart. "So far, human skull fossils dating back a million years are extremely rare in the world. This restoration of the appearance of the 'Yunxian Man' skull fossil brought together paleoanthropologists, criminal investigation experts, three-dimensional restoration experts, and Paleolithic archaeology experts. It is the world's first scientific restoration of the appearance of an ancient human skull fossil dating back a million years ago." Feng Xiaobo said.

Experts pointed out that the Peking Man, Shaanxi Lantian Man, Sichuan Ziyang Man, Anhui Hualong Cave Man and other ancient human fossils have all been restored, but most of the ancient human fossils are not completely preserved and most of the key parts of the skull are missing, resulting in imperfect restorations. This interdisciplinary comprehensive study of the "Yunxian Man" skull has a very high reference value for the restoration of the appearance of ancient human fossils.