A human skull unearthed in central China and dated to around 1mn years ago could overturn prevailing assumptions about the origins of Homo sapiens and the timeline of human evolution the BBC reports.

The fossil, known as Yunxian 2, was originally thought to belong to Homo erectus, the first species of humans to develop larger brains. Fresh analysis by Chinese authorities, however, indicates it is closer to Homo longi, a sister lineage of both Neanderthals and modern humans.

If correct, this would place the emergence of Homo sapiens at least 500,000 years earlier than the current consensus, extending the period of co-existence between major human species.

Questions are bound to be raised though, and with China having in recent years made at least half a dozen claims on much more recent historical 'events' that have little to no archaeological evidence to back them, this will in some circles be seen as Beijing looking to compete with Africa as the traditional starting point of human civilisation.

The findings for now at least rely on a combination of morphological study and genetic modelling. Both approaches suggest that large-brained humans were diversifying far earlier than previously assumed. This interpretation would mean that early representatives of Homo sapiens including Neanderthals and Homo longi may have walked the Earth together almost 1mn years ago, potentially interacting and interbreeding over a prolonged span of evolutionary history.

Such a shift would, the BBC report adds, help explain the long-standing confusion over a number of fossils dated between 800,000 and 100,000 years ago that have thus far resisted clear classification into one camp or the other. As such, The re-dating of Yunxian 2 offers a framework in which these remains could be organised into branches of three closely related lineages, alongside their more primitive ancestors in Asia and Europe.

The work is based on three skulls excavated in Hubei Province in central China. The specimens had been crushed and distorted, complicating earlier assessments. Researchers, however, managed to reconstruct their original form using digital scanning and computer modelling, enabling a more accurate comparison with other hominin species.

If validated, the conclusions would imply that Homo sapiens did not arise solely in Africa 300,000 years ago, as has long been assumed, but had already begun to take shape much earlier and possibly across a wider geographical area. The Chinese findings mean that the presence of million-year-old fossils in both Africa and Europe leave the precise origin of those early humans unresolved.

Given other recent claims on as of yet unproven historical ‘facts’ by Beijing though, the study is only likely to add fuel to a debate in a field where disagreements are routine.