The oldest in situ <i>Homo erectus</i> crania in eastern Asia: The Yunxian site dates to ~1.77 Ma

With the discovery of three almost complete Homo erectus crania, Yunxian is one of the most important early Pleistocene hominin sites in eastern Asia. Yet, the age of the Yunxian fossils has remained debated because of the lack of reliable numerical dating results. Here, we apply the well-established isochron 26 Al/ 10 Be burial dating to quartz gravels from two sediment layers of the site. The age results push the Yunxian crania back to 1.77 ± 0.08 million years ago (±1σ internal error), representing the oldest H. erectus fossils discovered in situ in eastern Asia. A much older age assignment to Yunxian supports the model of rapid dispersal and widespread distribution of early H. erectus and contributes to narrowing the chronological gap between the earliest archaeology and hominin paleontology in eastern Asia.