Click here to send us a message!

Asia plays a central role in the story of human evolution and recent cutting-edge research shows that eastern Asia was home to a variety of archaic human species that were still present by the time modern humans arrived during the late Pleistocene. In this episode, Prof. Christopher Bae leads us on a fascinating journey of the paleoanthropology and archaeology of eastern Asia to understand the complex biogeographic landscape that greeted those earliest modern humans.

**Please do not forget to rate and review the show**

Have a question or comment?

Email: hello@worldsbeforedesign.com

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BeforeUsMedia/

Or click “Send us a message!” at the top of this page.

Key People

Prof. Christopher Bae

Key Places

Xujiayao

Xujiang

Harbin

Denisova Cave

Huanglong (Hualongdong) Cave

Key Species

Homo erectus

Denisovans

• Homo juluensis
• Homo longi

Further Reading

Bae, Christopher. The Paleoanthropology of Eastern Asia. (2024). University of Hawaii Press

Bae, Christopher J., and Xiujie Wu. "Making sense of eastern Asian Late Quaternary hominin variability." nature communications 15, no. 1 (2024): 9479.

Feng, Xiaobo, et al. "The phylogenetic position of the Yunxian cranium elucidates the origin of Homo longi and the Denisovans." Science 389.6767 (2025): 1320-1324.

Fu, Qiaomei, Peng Cao, Qingyan Dai, E. Andrew Bennett, Xiaotian Feng, Melinda A. Yang, Wanjing Ping, Svante Pääbo, and Qiang Ji. "Denisovan mitochondrial DNA from dental calculus of the> 146,000-year-old Harbin cranium." Cell 188, no. 15 (2025): 3919-3926.

Rao, H., Xing, S., Ruan, Q., Bai, F., Zhao, Y., Wu, Z., Tang, S., Andrew Bennett, E., Feng, X., Lin, S. and Shao, Q., 2026. Ancient proteins identify various Denisovan remains from Southwest China. Nature, pp.1-7

Tsutaya, Takumi, Rikai Sawafuji, Alberto J. Taurozzi, Zandra Fagernäs, Ioannis Patramanis, Gaudry Troché, Meaghan Mackie et al. "A male Denisovan mandible from Pleistocene Taiwan." Science 388, no. 6743 (2025): 176-180.

Yang, Shi-Xia, María Martinón-Torres, and Michael Petraglia. "Palaeoanthropological evidence from China is changing the picture of hominin evolutionary history." Nature Ecology & Evolution 10.4 (2026): 634-640.

Before Us is produced by Worlds Before LLC. Erich Fisher writes and produces each episode and handles sound design and editing. Helen Farr co-hosts and contributes with writing and producing. Ian Laurence composed the theme song. The voices of our hosts and guests are real and have not been generated by AI.