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Nearly 90 years ago, the discovery of a huge skull fossil wrapped and hidden in a Chinese well forced scientists to rewrite the story of human evolution.
The analysis of the remains reveals a new branch of the human genealogy, which points to a previously unknown group of sisters, which is more closely related to modern humans than Neanderthals.
This extraordinary fossil was named by Chinese researchers as a new human species, Homo longi or “Dragon Man,” although other experts are more cautious in naming it.
“I think this is one of the most important discoveries of the past 50 years,” said Professor Chris Stringer, the research director of the Natural History Museum in London, which participated in the project. “This is a well-preserved fossil.”
The skull seems to have an extraordinary background story. According to researchers, it was first discovered in 1933 when a bridge was built over the Songhua River in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, in the northernmost part of China during the Japanese occupation by Chinese laborers. In order to prevent the skull from falling into Japanese hands, it was wrapped and hidden in an abandoned well. It was not until 2018 that the person who hid it resurfaced after he told his grandson about it shortly before his death.
An international team led by Professor Ji Qiang of Hebei University of Geosciences in China used geochemical techniques to narrow the scope of the skull when it was resting in Harbin. The history of these bones can be traced back at least 146,000 years ago. The skull has a unique combination of original features and more modern features, especially the face, which is more like Homo sapiens. Left a huge molar tooth.
The skull is 23 cm long and 15 cm wide, which is much larger than modern people’s, and has enough space to accommodate modern people’s brains, which is 1,420 ml. Under the bushy brow ridge, there are generous eye sockets, which are small but delicate. “This guy has a big head,” Stringer said.
Researchers believe that the skull belongs to a male about 50 years old, which would be an impressive body specimen. His wide, bulbous nose allows him to breathe a lot of air, which shows that he leads a high-energy lifestyle, and his large size helps him withstand the harsh winters of the region. Hebei paleoanthropologist Professor Ni Xijun said: “Long Ji has a strong body and very strong body.” “It is difficult to estimate the height, but the huge head should be taller than the average height of modern people.”
In order to figure out the position of the Harbin people in human history, the scientists input the measurement results of fossils and 95 other skulls into the software to compile the most likely genealogy. To their surprise, the Harbin skull and a few other skulls from China formed a new branch closer to modern humans than Neanderthals.
Chinese researchers believe that the Harbin skull is unique enough to make it a new species, but Stringer does not believe it. He believes this is similar to another one discovered in Dali County, China in 1978.
“I prefer to call it a Dali native, but it’s not a big deal,” he said. “What is important is the third lineage of later humans separated from Neanderthals and from Homo sapiens.” The details are Publish in three file In innovation.
No matter what the name is, one possibility is that Harbin’s skull is from Denisovan. The mysterious extinction of human groups Mainly from DNA and bone fragments recovered from Siberia. “Of course, this specimen may be Denisovan, but we must be cautious. What we need is a more complete Denisovan bone material and DNA,” Stringer said.
Professor John Hawkes, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said that the idea of a new human pedigree is “a provocative proposition” because even among distant relatives, skulls look similar. He added that it is a good hypothesis that the skull is a Denisovan, although he is not too keen on the new species name. “I think it’s a bad scientific moment to name new species among these hybrid brain humans,” he said. “We have repeatedly found that the difference in appearance did not make much sense for these ancient people in terms of reproduction.”
Mark Maslin, Professor of Earth System Science, University College London, author Cradle of mankind, Said: “The well-preserved ancient human skulls in Harbin, China further prove that human evolution is not a simple evolutionary tree, but a dense intertwined shrub. We now know that there are as many as 10 different species at the same time as our own species appeared. Ancient humans.
“Genetic analysis shows that these species influence each other and hybridize-our own genes contain the legacy of many of these ghost species. But a thought-provoking idea is that despite all this diversity, one emerged from Africa about 60,000 years ago. The new version of Homo sapiens is obviously competing, reproducing and even defeating these other closely related species, leading to their extinction. Only through painstaking search and analysis of their fossils, such as the Harbin skull, can we know their existence. “
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