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Origin of ‘Dragon Man’?
[BBC] Chinese researchers have unveiled an ancient skull that could belong to a completely new species of human.The team has claimed it is our closest evolutionary relative among known species of ancient human, such as Neanderthals and Homo erectus. Nicknamed "Dragon Man", the specimen represents a human group that lived in East Asia at least 146,000 years ago. It was found at Harbin, north-east China, in 1933, but only came to the attention of scientists more recently. An analysis of the skull has been published in the journal The Innovation. "In terms of fossils in the last million years, this is one of the most important yet discovered," he told BBC News. "What you have here is a separate branch of humanity that is not on its way to becoming Homo sapiens (our species), but represents a long-separate lineage which evolved in the region for several hundred thousand years and eventually went extinct. The researchers say the discovery has the potential to rewrite the story of human evolution. Their analysis suggests that it is more closely related to Homo sapiens than it is to Neanderthals. They have assigned the specimen to a new species: Homo longi, from the Chinese word "long", meaning dragon. Dragon Man had large, almost square eye sockets, thick brow ridges, a wide mouth, and oversized teeth. Prof Qiang Ji, from Hebei GEO University, says it is one of the most complete early human skull fossils ever discovered. "It has a mosaic combination of primitive and more modern features, setting itself apart from all the other species of human," the researcher explained. The scientists believe that Dragon Man was powerfully built and rugged. But little is known about how he lived, because his skull was removed from the site in which it was found. This means that there is currently no archaeological context, such as stone tools, or other elements of culture. The skull was reportedly discovered in 1933 by a construction worker helping to build a bridge on the Songhua river running through Harbin, in Heilongjiang province, which translated means Black Dragon River, hence the new human's name.
Posted by: jefe101 2024-04-02 |
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