It was thought to be a different species... The mystery of the 'Dragon Man' has been solved

First identified as a new species in 2021, Homo longi was considered a distinct human species due to its unusual skull size, thick eyebrow ridges, wide nose and large eye sockets. However, it has long been debated in the scientific world whether this skull truly belongs to a new species or is an example of a known group.

According to two new scientific studies, the Harbin skull belongs to the Denisovans. Researchers were able to extract mitochondrial DNA from dental stones in the skull. This DNA showed that the Dragon Man was related to early Denisovan groups that lived in Siberia between 217,000 and 106,000 years ago. Protein samples taken from the inner ear bone also supported this conclusion.

In studies published in the journals Science and Cell, the scientists say the Harbin skull is the first comprehensive example of a morphologically identical Denisovan. The finding significantly reduces decades of uncertainty about what Denisovans physically looked like.

Paleoanthropologist Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum, London, who was not involved in the research but has worked on the skull before, also commented on the results. “Harbin may be the most complete Denisovan fossil ever found,” Stringer said, adding that Homo longi would be an appropriate species name for the group.

Until now, Denisovans were known largely through DNA traces and a few small fossils. This distinguished them from Neanderthals because numerous complete Neanderthal skulls had been found. However, with the Harbin skull and a jawbone previously found off the coast of Taiwan also identified as Denisovans, more concrete comparisons between the species have now become possible.

During the Middle Pleistocene (about 789,000 to 126,000 years ago), multiple human species—Homo sapiens, Neanderthals, and Denisovans—coexisted and occasionally interacted genetically in Eurasia. This complex period has been referred to in the scientific community as the “mess in the middle.”

Scientists say DNA is not well preserved in most fossils, so methods such as skull shape and protein analysis will continue to play a critical role in completing the missing links of human evolution.