In Shiyan City, Hubei Province, the No. 3 skull of "Yunxian Man" was successfully extracted and unearthed at the Liangzi site of Yunyang Xuetang in Shiyan recently, and it has entered the stage of restoration and research.
The "Yunxian Man" No. 3 skull is the most complete ancient human skull fossil discovered in the Eurasian inland so far, providing an important basis for demonstrating the millions of years of human evolution history in the land of China.
The discovery was selected as one of the top ten international archaeological news in 2022, and it is one of the new discoveries of the major project "Archaeological China".
It took more than half a year from its appearance to its extraction and excavation. In the skull excavation area of 4 square meters, the exploration square of one square meter was divided into four sub-squares, and each 2 cm was used as an operation layer for fine excavation.
Around human fossils and other remains, archaeological staff systematically collected a large number of sedimentary samples for multidisciplinary research such as age, environment, burial, residue and molecular biology analysis, and made high-definition images of each excavation operation layer. Three-dimensional modeling, retaining a large number of excavation pictures, images and data.
For the purpose of preserving cultural relics and preserving samples for subsequent multidisciplinary research such as geology, residues, and molecular biology analysis, a stratigraphic accumulation about 2 cm thick was reserved on the upper right side of the skull, and a stratum about 10 cm thick was reserved below pile base.
According to the established plan, the No. 3 skull of "Yunxian Man" will be carefully studied in terms of shape, structure, age, sex, and burial conditions. The physical characteristics, evolutionary status, cultural and technological characteristics, and adaptive survival methods of the human body, and comprehensive research on site stratigraphy, chronology, environmental science, and burial of various samples were carried out in multiple laboratories.
(Source of Zheng Ziyan video produced by Chen Chen: Yunyang District Media Center)
Responsible editor: [Li Ji]