Ancient ‘Dragon Man’ DNA reveals mysterious human relative

Published connected 20/06/2025 - 15:25 GMT+2•Updated 15:26

It's nan extremity of a astir 100-year-old mystery. Using DNA-analysis, scientists person identified an ancient quality comparative nicknamed "Dragon Man", caller investigation showed.

It each started pinch a 146,000-year-old skull recovered by a labourer successful nan bluish Chinese metropolis of Harbin successful 1933.

The man near his wealth astatine nan bottommost of a well, wherever it remained hidden until his family uncovered nan fossil successful 2018 and donated it to science.

Experts initially grounded to lucifer nan cranium pinch immoderate known prehistoric quality species.

In 2021, they dubbed nan find Homo longi aliases “Dragon Man”, a sanction derived from from Heilongjiang, aliases Black Dragon River, nan state wherever nan it was found.

Now, scientists person managed to extract familial worldly and proteins by scrapping bony plaque from nan fossil’s mouth, an different method that proved successful.

The findings of nan investigation were published successful Cell and Science

Analysis confirmed nan skull belongs to nan Denisovans, an extinct type of archaic human beings recovered crossed Asia.

The type was first identified successful 2010 acknowledgment to DNA tests connected small, fossilised bony fragments, but nary complete Denisovan skull had ever been found.

The caller find will make it easier for experts to place further Denisovan fossils and seen nan type yet assigned a technological name. The caller investigation mightiness besides springiness clues regarding nan species’ appearance.

The Harbin skull is large, pinch beardown and debased brow ridges, akin to Neanderthals and modern humans.

Qiaomei Fu, a professor astatine nan Institute of Paleontology and Palaeoanthropology successful Beijing which led nan caller investigation wrote: "the uncovering that nan quality DNA of nan Harbin specimen is amended preserved successful nan dental calculus than successful nan dense bones, including nan petrous bone, suggests that dental calculus whitethorn beryllium a much valuable root for investigating DNA successful Middle Pleistocene hominins."

Additional sources • Cell, Science, Live Science