Dragon Man could be new type of human

A fossil find nicknamed “Dragon Man” could possibly mean a complete rewrite of human history, scientists have claimed. In 1933, a Chinese builder found ancient skull in the Songhua River in Heilongjiang province, in north-western China. Fearing it would fall into the hands of the Japanese, who had invaded the country at the time, the worker hid it in an abandoned well at his family home. Before he died in 2018, the man told his grandson where to find the skull.

Once it was rediscovered, the 146,000-year-old relic was studied by Professor Qiang Ji, from Hebei GEO University in China, and an international team of researchers. They say it comes from a new species of human, named Homo longi. If true, this species could replace Neanderthals as the closest-known relatives to modern humans, who are known as Homo sapiens.

Dragon Man’s skull belonged to a 50-year-old man. It is large enough to hold a Homo sapiens brain. The ancient human had big eye sockets, thick brow ridges and a wide mouth, filled with oversized teeth. His big nose allowed him to breathe in lots of air, suggesting he had an active lifestyle.

“Homo longi is heavily built, very robust,” said Professor Xijun Ni, who was on the research team. “It is hard to estimate the height but the massive head should match a height higher than the average of modern humans.”

Not everyone agrees that Dragon Man represents a new human species. Some scientists believe the skull comes from another type of human called Denisovans, first discovered in Russia in 2010. Despite these reservations, Chris Stringer from London’s Natural History Museum says this is “one of the most important finds of the past 50 years”.

How Dragon Man might have looked.

The ancient skull.