Chinese and British scientists announced the discovery of a new ancient human "Dragon Man"

　　Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, July 5 (Reporters Gemdale and Dong Ruifeng) What are the mysteries of human evolution revealed by a nearly complete ancient human skull?

Recently, based on the study of the largest known human skull fossil found in Harbin, Heilongjiang, a research team composed of Chinese and British scientists announced the discovery of a new ancient human and its branch. May have the closest kinship with modern people.

Because the fossil was found in Heilongjiang, scientists named this new race "Dragon Man."

　　Relevant research results have been published in the academic journal "Innovation".

　　In the long history of human evolution, there have been many early races, and the direct ancestor of modern people, Homo sapiens, is one of them.

What is so special about Dragon Man?

　　Ni Xijun, a researcher at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who participated in this research, said that the "age" of this dragon skull is between 146,000 and 309,000 years ago, and it has both primitive and progressive characteristics.

For example, it not only has primitive features such as large and square eye sockets and thick brow ridges, but also has relatively short and flat cheekbones.

　　According to reports, this skull is very huge, about one-fifth of the size of the Homo sapiens skull; the brain volume is 1,420 ml, which is equivalent to that of Homo sapiens, which means that the dragon has a fairly high level of intelligence.

The dragon people may have been widely distributed in northern Asia. Researchers speculate that this skull belongs to a male who is about 50 years old or younger. He is very strong and adapts to the cold climate of high latitudes. Like Homo sapiens, he hunts and gathers. , And even fish for a living.

　　What is the relationship between Dragon Man and us?

Previously, another kind of ancient humans, Neanderthals, was believed to have the closest relationship with Homo sapiens.

This study proposed that the Dragon people, the Xiahe people found in Gansu, and the Dali people found in Shaanxi belong to the same branch, that is, they have a common ancestor.

The relationship between this branch and Homo sapiens is closer.

　　“Analysis of phylogeny shows that the differentiation of Neanderthals, Homo sapiens, and dragons took place earlier than expected. These three had a common ancestor. About 1 million years ago, Neanderthals ancestors Differed, embarked on different evolutionary paths, and became an independent race. About 950,000 years ago, Homo sapiens and Dragon were separated into two different races." Ni Xijun said.

This greatly impacted the previous academic view that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens were different about 600,000 years ago.

　　At the same time, Ni Xijun introduced that the common ancestor of Homo sapiens and dragons may have originated in Africa, but they have migrated and spread many times.

Homo sapiens walked out of Africa about 200,000 years ago, and before that, the branch of the dragon people may have evolved in Asia for hundreds of thousands of years.

It can be speculated that during the spreading process, Homo sapiens and dragons may have met and even exchanged DNA.

　　It should be noted that although the research team said that the dragon is a new race, some questions still need to be further answered.

For example, in this study, the Xiahe people are considered to belong to the same branch as the dragon people.

In some previous studies, the Xiahe people are believed to belong to another mysterious group of ancient humans-Denisovans.

　　So, will the Denisovans and the Dragons be one kind of people?

Regarding this question, Ni Xijun explained that the Denisovans are not an officially named race. They are named after the Denisovan Cave found in Russia.

The fossils currently found in Denisova Cave are very broken and no skulls have been found.

The relationship between the two is still inconclusive, and it needs more new discoveries and new evidence to support it.

　　The research was jointly completed by researchers from Hebei University of Geosciences, Institute of Ancient Spine, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and British Museum of Natural History.