Yunxian skull links Denisovans’ face

A new Science study places the Yunxian cranium from China close to Homo longi and the Denisovans using hundreds of 3D cranial landmarks across 179 Homo fossils. This suggests Denisovans—a lineage known mostly from DNA—may align morphologically with recently described East Asian fossils, tightening the map of human evolution in Eurasia. — It updates a core public narrative about human origins by giving a tangible fossil anchor to Denisovans rather than treating them as a DNA‑only ghost lineage.