Abstract: Two fossil hominid crania from Yunxian were found in 1989 and 1990 respectively, and were attributed to Homo erectus by Li Tianyuan and D.A.Etler(1992) and Li et al (1994). In this paper, the "Homo erectus features" of these two crania are examined in a comparison of the crania with those from Zhoukoudian. The features examined include supraorbital tori, occipital torus, lambda-opisthion angle, postorbital constriction, skull breadth conditions, lowness of skull, frontal flatness and receding, and cranial capacity. Results show that some features are doubtful owing to damage and distortion of these two crania; and others are of early Homo Sapiens instead. Morphologically, the crania from Yunxian are likely of Homo Sapiens if erectus and Sapiens are considered as different species.

Key words: Homo erectus, Early Homo Sapiens, Yunxian