Scientists have discovered the first primitive human fossil from Taiwan - a well preserved jawbone recovered from the sea floor.

The discovery has added to growing evidence that human evolution in Asia followed a very complex path.

Professor Rainer Grün, from the Research School of Earth Sciences, led the ANU team’s part in the project, to determine a date for the fossil.

“It’s a very pristine fossil. It’s rare to find something of this age so well preserved,” he said.

The fossil is similar to homo erectus fossils, which were first discovered in Java. However, it has some distinct differences, suggesting that the humans in Taiwan evolved separately from their Javanese cousins.

In the past few decades diverse human fossils have been found in locations as varied as Georgia, Siberia and Flores in Indonesia, fuelling debate about the number of separate human species that lived throughout Asia before modern humans dominated approximately 40,000 years ago.