学界普遍认为，世界各地的直立人起源于非洲直立人。近年一些在非洲以外发现的早-中更新世人类化石呈现出许多比非洲直立人更加原始的早期人属甚至南方古猿的性状，因而有假说认为，一些早期人属成员在非洲直立人之前迁出了非洲，成为欧亚大陆一些早期人类的祖先。陕西蓝田县公王岭发现的人类化石包括头骨碎片和牙齿，测年结果为110万年左右，或163万年，因而蓝田人是目前我国发现的有确定年代数据的最早的古人类化石，与一些早期人属和南方古猿年代重叠。以往研究已发现蓝田人存在与典型亚洲直立人相比十分原始的性状，但目前对蓝田人的演化地位以及与早期人属、南方古猿的关系尚无定论。蓝田人是否可能来自更早的人属成员？本研究拟结合新的测年框架和近年来古人类学研究的前沿进展与技术手段，复原蓝田人头骨化石并对头骨、牙齿内部结构深入观察，重点探讨蓝田人是否代表比典型亚洲直立人更加原始的种属，以及蓝田人是否可能来源于比非洲直立人更原始的人类成员。

It has been a prevailing opinion that all Eurasian Homo erectus originated from African H. erectus. Recent discoveries found that some Early to Middle Pleistocene hominins in Eurasia show closer affinities to H. habilis and/or other early hominins including early Homo and australopiths, therefore it can be hypothesized that the ancestors of these Eurasian hominins dispersed from Africa before the emergence of humans identified broadly with the H. erectus grade. Geochronological work assigned Gongwangling Lantian craniodental remains to 1.63 ma B.P., or ~1.10 ma B.P., making it the oldest known fossil hominin in China. Previous studies have noted that Lantian hominin shows a series of primitive features compared with classical Asian H. erectus, but there has been a notable lack of consensus regarding the phenetic similitude/evolutionary relationships between Lantian hominin and penecontemporaneous African early Homo (and australopiths). Is Lantian a primitive descendent of early Homo instead of African H. erectus? Based on the latest dating frame and the state-of-the-art research techniques, this proposal attempts to reconstruct Lantian cranial fragments, investigate the inner structure of Lantian craniodental remains, evaluate the primitive features compared with classical Asian H. erectus, and assess the probability that Lantian hominin originated from an Early Pleistocene expansion of H. habilis-like stem which predates the emergence of H. erectus in Africa.