The Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH) participates in a study, published in the Journal of Human Evolution, on human teeth unearthed at the Hualongdong site in Anhui Province, China. The findings offer fresh insights into hominin diversity in Asia during the late Middle Pleistocene. Analysis of these fossil teeth reveals an unusual combination of primitive and modern traits that challenges established classifications of Homo evolution on the Asian continent.

Led by Professor Wu Xiujie, director of the Hualongdong excavations, the research is the result of a long-standing collaboration between scientists from the Dental Anthropology Group at CENIEH—María Martinón-Torres, Director of CENIEH and corresponding author of the paper, and José María Bermúdez de Castro, ad Honorem researcher at CENIEH— and scientists from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) in Beijing.

The Hualongdong fossil assemblage includes a nearly complete cranium with 14 teeth preserved in situ, a partial maxilla, several isolated teeth, femoral fragments, and other cranial remains. Through a comparative analysis of 21 dental elements, the researchers identified a morphological pattern that combines archaic features—such as robust dental roots typical of the Middle Pleistocene—with more modern traits, including a reduced third molar commonly found in Homo sapiens and other Late Pleistocene hominins.

However, the Hualongdong fossils lack the dental features characteristic of Neanderthals, suggesting a distinct population. This blend of traits could be the result of various evolutionary processes, ranging from genetic admixture with more primitive species like Homo erectus to the possibility that these individuals represent a lineage related to Homo sapiens, yet distinct from both Neanderthals and Denisovans

An evolutionary mosaic
The findings at Hualongdong reinforce the idea that traits associated with the emergence of Homo sapiens were already present in Asia at least 300,000 years ago. While the facial region of these hominins exhibits modern-like features, certain dental and mandibular characteristics remain distinctly archaic.

“It’s a mosaic of primitive and derived traits never seen before—almost as if the evolutionary clock were ticking at different speeds in different parts of the body,” explains María Martinón-Torres. According to José María Bermúdez de Castro, “the Hualongdong discovery reminds us that human evolution was neither linear nor uniform, and that Asia hosted multiple evolutionary experiments with unique anatomical outcomes.”

These results further support the view that human evolution in Asia during the Pleistocene was more complex and diverse than previously thought—particularly given that a prior study at the same site had already identified a juvenile individual exhibiting a similar combination of modern and archaic traits.

The Hualongdong site now joins other key fossil localities, such as Panxian Dadong and Jinniushan, which may offer further insights into the evolutionary pathways that led to modern humans.