A direct ancestor of modern humans may have arrived in China much earlier than previously thought, according to a study that may rewrite our understanding of how early hominid species spread around the world. An analysis of Homo erectus fossils found in modern-day Hubei province using new techniques concluded that the remains were almost 1.8 million years old – pushing back their arrival date by around 600,000 years and suggesting the species may have spread across continents earlier and more...