A joint China-Russia archaeological cooperation project has made great advances by using 3D portrait restoration technology to successfully restore the appearance of an 8- or 9-year-old Neanderthal boy who lived around 300,000-40,000 years ago.

China's Jilin University and Russia's Moscow State University built a lab to carry out some bioarcheology projects in July 2022. On the basis of traditional archaeological sculpture restoration methods, scientists from the two countries researched a skull fossil of a Neanderthal boy unearthed from a Paleolithic site to determine the ancient boy's eye, skin, hair color and other characteristics, according to the report from the Xinhua News Agency.

Based on the details they uncovered, the Chinese archaeological team at Jilin University in Northeast China's Jilin Province later restored the boy's image using advanced 3D portrait restoration technology. The resulting photo shows that the ancient boy had a sunken and slightly raised nose as well as a pair of brown eyes.

Alexandra P. Buzhilova, director of the Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology at Moscow State University in Russia, said that the fossil is the first Neanderthal fossil discovered in Asia and the only complete Asian Neanderthal skull fossil preserved so far. The discovery shows that Neanderthals had spread eastward into Central Asia, the report noted.

Experts believe that the new restoration not only vividly shows the facial shape of prehistoric humans in Eurasia, but also provides new information for further research and display of the morphological characteristics of Neanderthals in Central Asia and their environmental adaptability.

Neanderthal fossils were first discovered in the Neanderthal Valley in Germany. A close relative of modern humans, this extinct human species was widely distributed in Eurasia. The causes of Neanderthal disappearance about 40,000 years ago remain highly contested in academia.

Zhang Quanchao, head of the bioarcheological team at Jilin University, told Xinhua that cooperation between China and Russia in the field of archaeology will not just be limited to the study of Neanderthals, and that he hopes to promote more cultural exchanges and mutual learning with countries taking part in the Belt and Road Initiative.

Jia Xiaobing, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Archeology and the head of another joint archaeological project in Egypt, told the Global Times that Chinese archaeology is offering Chinese experience to the world, in addition to a profound ideological system, rich technological, cultural and artistic achievements, and other unique systems that have profoundly influenced the progress of world civilization.

He pointed out that world archaeology is inseparable from Chinese archaeology as China's plus 5,000-year history is an important part of world civilization. He also noted that international cooperation is a good opportunity for showing the rapid developments in Chinese archaeology and promoting ancient Chinese civilization to the world.