`` The specimen is wonderful and an important contribution to the hominin record in a temporal period where there are woefully too few fossils , '' said Lee Berger , paleoanthropologist at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg , in an e-mail . The million - year - old fossils are a ` ` snapshot in time , '' he says . They call into question the classification of distinct groups of ancient human relatives . Study authors argue there was one Homo erectus lineage that left Africa for Eurasia . Other authors do n't buy the argument but say skull is important .
The million - year - old fossils are a ` ` snapshot in time , '' he says . They call into question the classification of distinct groups of ancient human relatives . Study authors argue there was one Homo erectus lineage that left Africa for Eurasia . Other authors do n't buy the argument but say skull is important .