The fossil record in East Asia extends from the Early to the Late Pleistocene and consists of over 75 sites throughout China, Mongolia, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan. The species Homo erectus and Homo sapiens are represented, as well as taxonomically indeterminate remains from the Early and Middle Pleistocene. Soon after the initial dispersal out of Africa, early Homo occupation is restricted to Mainland China. At the end of the Middle Pleistocene the fossil record expands to Korea and Taiwan. Also at this time, the morphological pattern shifts from H. erectus to more derived forms. In the Late Pleistocene, H. sapiens exhibits a combination of derived and ancestral traits in China; in Japan the earliest populations of 32,000 years ago exhibit Australasian affinities.
