The recent DNA study linking the enigmatic 'Dragon Man' fossil to Denisovans marks a significant advancement in our understanding of human evolution. Discovered in China in 1933, the nearly complete skull has now been identified as the first from this mysterious group of early humans . Through meticulous analysis of mitochondrial DNA and proteins extracted from dental calculus on the fossil's tooth, researchers have established a genetic connection that enhances our comprehension of Denisovan morphology and distribution . This breakthrough not only fills gaps left by previous bone fragments but also provides crucial insights into how Denisovans interacted with contemporary hominins like Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens.
It all started with a 146,000-year-old skull found by a labourer in the northern Chinese city of Harbin in 1933.
The man left his treasure at the bottom of a well, where it remained hidden until his family uncovered the fossil in 2018 and donated it to science.
Experts initially failed to match the cranium with any known prehistoric human species.
Scientists typically consider skulls, with telltale bumps and ridges, the best type of fossilized remains to understand the form or appearance of an extinct hominin species. The new findings, if confirmed, could effectively put a face to the Denisovan name.
“I really feel that we have cleared up some of the mystery surrounding this population,” said Qiaomei Fu, a professor at the Institute of Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, and lead author of the new research. “After 15 years, we know the first Denisovan skull.”
Denisovans were first discovered in 2010 by a team that included Fu — who was then a young researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany — from ancient DNA contained in a pinkie fossil found in Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains of Russia. Additional remains unearthed in the cave, from which the group gets its name, and elsewhere in Asia continue to add to the still-incomplete picture.
For now, the discovery leaves scientists divided about what to call the lineage that includes the Harbin skull and the girl from Denisova. “Homo longi is the appropriate species name for this group,” said Chris Stringer, a paleoanthropologist at the Natural History Museum in London who was not involved in the study.
But Dr. Hawks still calls them Denisovans. The fact that they could interbreed with our own ancestors, he argues, makes them a lineage in our own species, along with Neanderthals.
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