Skullcap from Salkhit Valley is Mongolia's only Pleistocene hominin fossil. Specimen includes forehead and nasal bones. Previously classified as archaic hominin like Homo erectus or Neanderthal. New radiocarbon dating gives 34,950–33,900 years ago. Date is 8,000 years older than prior estimates. Improved method extracts hydroxyproline from collagen to remove contaminants. Sample contaminated by casting resin. Age matches Early Upper Paleolithic tools linked to modern humans. Later than claims of modern humans over 100,000 years ago in China. Mitochondrial DNA is haplogroup N common in modern Eurasians. Confirms skull belongs to modern human. Nuclear DNA analysis ongoing.