Latest news with #Denisovans
Daily Mail
7 hours ago
- Science
- Daily Mail
Scientists SOLVE the mystery of the ‘Dragon Man': Ancient skull is first ever found from lost group of ancient humans that lived 217,000 years ago
It has baffled scientists since it was first discovered back in 2018. But the mystery of the 'Dragon Man' skull has finally been solved - as a new study reveals its true identity. Using DNA samples from plaque on the fossil's teeth, researchers have proven that the Dragon Man belonged to a lost group of ancient humans called the Denisovans. This species emerged around 217,000 years ago and passed on traces of DNA to modern humans before being lost to time. Denisovans were first discovered in 2010 when palaeontologists found a single finger of a girl who lived 66,000 years ago in the Denisova Cave in Siberia. But with only tiny fragments of bones to work with, palaeontologists couldn't learn anything more about our long-lost ancestors. Now, as the first confirmed Denisovan skull, the Dragon Man can provide scientists with an idead of what these ancient humans might have looked like. Dr Bence Viola, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Toronto in Canada who was not involved in the study, told MailOnline: 'This is very exciting. Since their discovery in 2010, we knew that there is this other group of humans out there that our ancestors interacted with, but we had no idea how they looked except for some of their teeth.' Scientists have finally solved the mystery of the 'Dragon Man' skull which belonged to an ancient human who lived 146,000 years ago Scientists have now confirmed that the skull is that of a Denisovan (artist's impression), an ancient species of human which emerged around 217,000 years ago The Dragon Man skull is believed to have been found by a Chinese railway worker in 1933 while the country was under Japanese occupation. Not knowing what the fossilised skull could be but suspecting it might be important, the labourer hid the skull at the bottom of the well near Harbin City. He only revealed its location shortly before his death, and his surviving family found it in 2018 and donated it to the Hebei GEO University. Scientists dubbed the skull 'Homo Longi' or 'Dragon Man' after the Heilongjiang near where it was found, which translates to black dragon river. The researchers knew that this skull didn't belong to either homo sapiens or Neanderthals but couldn't prove which other species it might be part of. In two papers, published in Cell and Science, researchers have now managed to gather enough DNA evidence to prove that Dragon Man was a Denisovan. Lead researcher Dr Qiaomei Fu, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, had previously tried to extract DNA from bones in the skull but had not been successful. To find DNA, Dr Fu had to take tiny samples of the plaque that had built up on Dragon Man's teeth. Previously, the only traces of Denisovans were small fragments of bone like these pieces found in Siberia which meant scientists didn't know what they might have looked like Who is Dragon Man? Dragon Man is the nickname for a skull found near Harbin City, China in 2018. Known officially as the Harbin Cranium, scientists determined that the skull did not belong to any known human ancestor species. Scientists gave it the titled Homo longi, meaning 'Dragon Man' after the Heilongjiang, or black dragon river, near where it was found. Scientists suspected that Dragon Man might have been a member of the Denisovan species of humans but could not confirm this. That was because the bones are so old that most traces of DNA have long since decayed. As plaque builds up it sometimes traps cells from the inside of the mouth, and so there could be traces of DNA left even after 146,000 years. When Dr Fu and her colleagues did manage to extract human DNA from the plaque, it was a match for samples of DNA taken from Denisovan fossils. For the first time, scientists now have a confirmed Denisovan skull which means they can work out what our lost ancestors actually looked like. The Dragon Man's skull has large eye sockets, a heavy brow and an exceptionally large and thick cranium. Scientists believe that Dragon Man, and therefore Denisovans, would have had a brain about seven per cent larger than a modern human. Reconstructions based on the skull show a face with heavy, flat cheeks, a wide mouth, and a large nose. However, the biggest implication of the Dragon Man skull's identification is that we now know Denisovans might have been much larger than modern humans. Dr Viola says: 'It emphasizes what we assumed from the teeth, that these are very large and robust people. This also confirms that Dragon Man was from an older lineage of Denisovans which dates back to the earliest records around 217,000 years ago, rather than from the late Denisovan line which branched off around 50,000 years ago 'Harbin [the Dragon Man skull] is one of, if not the largest human cranium we have anywhere in the fossil record.' However, scientists still have many questions about Denisovans that are yet to be answered. In particular, scientists don't yet know whether Dragon Man reflects the full range of diversity that could have existed within the Denisovan population. Dragon Man was probably a heavily-set, stocky hunter-gatherer built to survive the last Ice Age in northern China but Denisovan bones have been found in environments that weren't nearly as cold. Professor John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, told MailOnline: 'Harbin gives us a strong indication that some of them are large, with large skulls. 'But we have some good reasons to suspect that Denisovans lived across quite a wide geographic range, from Siberia into Indonesia, and they may have been in many different environmental settings. 'I wouldn't be surprised if they are as variable in body size and shape as people living across the same range of geographies today.' THE DENISOVANS EXPLAINED Who were they? The Denisovans are an extinct species of human that appear to have lived in Siberia and even down as far as southeast Asia. The individuals belonged to a genetically distinct group of humans that were distantly related to Neanderthals but even more distantly related to us. Although remains of these mysterious early humans have mostly been discovered at the Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains in Siberia, DNA analysis has shown the ancient people were widespread across Asia. Scientists were able to analyse DNA from a tooth and from a finger bone excavated in the Denisova cave in southern Siberia. The discovery was described as 'nothing short of sensational.' In 2020, scientists reported Denisovan DNA in the Baishiya Karst Cave in Tibet. This discovery marked the first time Denisovan DNA had been recovered from a location that is outside Denisova Cave. How widespread were they? Researchers are now beginning to find out just how big a part they played in our history. DNA from these early humans has been found in the genomes of modern humans over a wide area of Asia, suggesting they once covered a vast range. They are thought to have been a sister species of the Neanderthals, who lived in western Asia and Europe at around the same time. The two species appear to have separated from a common ancestor around 200,000 years ago, while they split from the modern human Homo sapien lineage around 600,000 years ago. Last year researchers even claimed they could have been the first to reach Australia. Aboriginal people in Australia contain both Neanderthal DNA, as do most humans, and Denisovan DNA. This latter genetic trace is present in Aboriginal people at the present day in much greater quantities than any other people around the world. How advanced were they? Bone and ivory beads found in the Denisova Cave were discovered in the same sediment layers as the Denisovan fossils, leading to suggestions they had sophisticated tools and jewellery. Professor Chris Stringer, an anthropologist at the Natural History Museum in London, said: 'Layer 11 in the cave contained a Denisovan girl's fingerbone near the bottom but worked bone and ivory artefacts higher up, suggesting that the Denisovans could have made the kind of tools normally associated with modern humans. 'However, direct dating work by the Oxford Radiocarbon Unit reported at the ESHE meeting suggests the Denisovan fossil is more than 50,000 years old, while the oldest 'advanced' artefacts are about 45,000 years old, a date which matches the appearance of modern humans elsewhere in Siberia.' Did they breed with other species? Yes. Today, around 5 per cent of the DNA of some Australasians – particularly people from Papua New Guinea – is Denisovans. Now, researchers have found two distinct modern human genomes - one from Oceania and another from East Asia - both have distinct Denisovan ancestry. The genomes are also completely different, suggesting there were at least two separate waves of prehistoric intermingling between 200,000 and 50,000 years ago. Researchers already knew people living today on islands in the South Pacific have Denisovan ancestry.
New York Post
21 hours ago
- Science
- New York Post
Fossilized ‘Dragon Man' skull clears up baffling ‘mystery' behind early humans: scientists
A skull, unearthed nearly a century ago, has led to new revelations in the study of human evolution. Known as 'Dragon Man,' the fossil has now been identified as belonging to the Denisovans — a mysterious group of ancient humans whose existence was first revealed through DNA analysis in 2010. The 'Dragon Man' belongs to the Denisovans — a mysterious group of ancient humans. Hebei GEO University Advertisement 'I really feel that we have cleared up some of the mystery surrounding this population,' Qiaomei Fu, a researcher who was a part of the 2010 discovery team and led the new study, told CNN. 'After 15 years, we know the first Denisovan skull.' The findings also provide a glimpse into what the Denisovans may have looked like. Scientists have reconstructed an artist's impression of 'Dragon Man,' showing a robust, blocky face with strong brow ridges, a feature common in other ancient human species. Advertisement With a brain size comparable to both Neanderthals and modern humans, Denisovans would have had a physically powerful appearance, likely adapted to the harsh environments they inhabited. The 'Dragon Man' skull, which dates to 146,000 years ago and was discovered in 1933 by a laborer in Harbin City, China — when it was under Japanese occupation — was long shrouded in mystery. The worker had found the cranium while building a bridge, but rather than handing it over to science, he stashed it at the bottom of a well, where it remained untouched for decades until his death in 2018. His family then donated it to Hebei GEO University, CNN reported. The 'Dragon' Man skull, which was discovered in 1933 by a laborer in Harbin City, China, was long shrouded in mystery. Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Advertisement With the discovery of this nearly complete skull, scientists have finally pieced together a face for the Denisovans, offering new insights into the history of humanity. In 2021, scientists first proposed that the skull might belong to a new species of human, naming it Homo longi, or 'Dragon Man,' which is derived from Heilongjiang, or Black Dragon River, the province where the it was found. The skull's unusual features — such as its massive brow ridges and broad, low face—were unlike those of any previously known human species. However, as exciting as this discovery was, it raised many questions. Advertisement The mystery deepened as researchers struggled to extract DNA from the skull, which had been buried for so long. Despite several attempts, initial efforts to analyze its genetic material proved unsuccessful. It wasn't until scientists turned to a different source — dental plaque — that they found the breakthrough they needed. The DNA pointed to a surprising connection to the Denisovans, an ancient human group that had been identified through a tiny pinky bone found in a Siberian cave over a decade ago. The discovery of this fossil marked the first evidence of Denisovans outside of their original home in Siberia. Until now, no complete Denisovan skull had ever been found, leaving researchers with only small pieces of the puzzle to work with. The 'Dragon Man' skull changes that, providing a much-needed clue to help scientists piece together what these ancient relatives might have looked like. The new research, published in two groundbreaking papers in Cell and Science, not only provided mitochondrial DNA evidence but also revealed protein fragments extracted from the skull that further cemented its Denisovan identity. The analysis of these proteins showed a clear match to known Denisovan traits, confirming the connection beyond doubt. The 'Dragon Man' discovery adds a new layer to our understanding of human evolution, shedding light on a period when multiple human species roamed the Earth. Denisovans, Neanderthals, and early Homo sapiens coexisted and even interbred, leaving behind traces of their DNA in modern humans. In fact, many people today carry small amounts of Denisovan DNA, a legacy of these ancient encounters.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Science
- Yahoo
1930s 'Dragon Man' Finally Gives Elusive Ancient Human Species a Face
A 146,000-year-old skull known as the 'dragon man', thought to be the sole representative of an ancient human species, actually belongs to a larger group of our extinct relatives, the Denisovans, two new papers claim. It's the first skull we have from that group, and it was right under our noses for years. Paleontologist Qiaomei Fu, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, specializes in early modern human settlement in Asia. She led two new studies that reveal the mistaken identity of this skull, using proteins and mitochondrial DNA her team found preserved in the fossil. The 'dragon man' skull was discovered in the 1930s by a construction worker who was erecting a bridge over the Songhua River in Harbin, China, while the region was under Japanese occupation. The province is known as Longjiang, meaning 'dragon river', hence the skull's nickname. The bridge builder kept the specimen to himself, hiding it at the bottom of a well. It was only when his family donated it to Hebei GEO University in 2018 that research on this unique find began. In 2021, the skull was declared a new species of ancient human, Homo longi, but Fu's research rebukes this categorization. That initial description was based on comparative morphology, where paleontologists look at the physical appearance of different fossils to decide where they sit in the family tree. But morphology can mislead: members of the same species often look very different depending on lifestyle and environment. Trying to extract fragile molecular evidence from fossils – especially DNA to compare genetic similarity – is often a destructive and patchy task with no guarantee of payoff, but in this case, Fu and her colleagues had astonishing success. The team was able to retrieve proteins from the skull's petrous bone – one of the densest in the body. They also got hold of mitochondrial DNA (which contains less detail than the DNA stored in a cell nucleus, but is still very useful) from plaque on the dragon man's teeth. Dental plaque is not widely considered a source of DNA, perhaps because it's the result of a biofilm rather than a direct part of the host's body. "The finding that the human DNA of the Harbin specimen is better preserved in the dental calculus than in dense bones, including the petrous bone, suggests that dental calculus may be a valuable source for investigating DNA in Middle Pleistocene hominins," Fu and her team write. These molecules suggest the man is not as unique from other ancient humans as the skull's physical appearance suggests. That's partly because we don't actually have any other complete Denisovan skulls to refer to: until now, they were known only from teeth, one skull fragment, bits of jaw, and a few other body parts. But the dragon man's mitochondrial DNA reveals a species-level relationship to at least five other Denisovan individuals known from fossil remains found in Siberia. And among the amino acid fragments of 95 proteins found within his skull, four were unmistakably Denisovan, and three were direct matches. There are limitations to these sampling methods that leave some room for doubt, but Fu and team's findings are enough to place him among the Denisovans for now. We may have lost a species of ancient human – farewell Homo longi, it was good while it lasted – but it seems we've gained the first ever complete Denisovan skull. Which is pretty wild, given that this missing puzzle piece, a frustrating gap in the paleoanthropologists' catalogue, has actually been in the hands of modern humans for nearly 100 years. As they say, it's always in the last place you look. The research is published in Science and Cell. How Long Would Humans Survive Once The Last Baby Is Born? Humans Have Smoked Meat For Almost 2 Million Years, Study Suggests 'As If Time Froze': France's Deepest Shipwreck Stuns Archaeologists
CNN
a day ago
- Science
- CNN
‘Dragon Man' DNA revelation puts a face to a mysterious group of ancient humans
Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. CNN — An enigmatic skull recovered from the bottom of a well in northeastern China in 2018 sparked intrigue when it didn't match any previously known species of prehistoric human. Now, scientists say they have found evidence of where the fossil fits, and it could be a key piece in another cryptic evolutionary puzzle. After several failed attempts, the researchers managed to extract genetic material from the fossilized cranium — nicknamed Dragon Man — linking it to an enigmatic group of early humans known as Denisovans. A dozen or so Denisovan fossilized bone fragments had previously been found and identified using ancient DNA. But the specimens' small size offered little idea of what this shadowy population of ancient hominins looked like, and the group has never been assigned an official scientific name. Scientists typically consider skulls, with telltale bumps and ridges, the best type of fossilized remains to understand the form or appearance of an extinct hominin species. The new findings, if confirmed, could effectively put a face to the Denisovan name. 'I really feel that we have cleared up some of the mystery surrounding this population,' said Qiaomei Fu, a professor at the Institute of Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, and lead author of the new research. 'After 15 years, we know the first Denisovan skull.' Denisovans were first discovered in 2010 by a team that included Fu — who was then a young researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany — from ancient DNA contained in a pinkie fossil found in Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains of Russia. Additional remains unearthed in the cave, from which the group gets its name, and elsewhere in Asia continue to add to the still-incomplete picture. The new research, described in two scientific papers published Wednesday, is 'definitely going to be among, if not the, biggest paleoanthropology papers of the year,' and will spur debate in the field 'for quite some time,' said Ryan McRae, a paleoanthropologist at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, who was not involved in the studies. The findings could help fill in gaps about a time when Homo sapiens weren't the only humans roaming the planet — and teach scientists more about modern humans. Our species once coexisted for tens of thousands of years and interbred with both Denisovans and Neanderthals before the two went extinct. Most humans today carry a genetic legacy of those ancient encounters. Neanderthal fossils have been the subject of study for than a century, but scant details are known about our mysterious Denisovan cousins, and a skull fossil can reveal a great deal. Long in the tooth A laborer in the city of Harbin in northeastern China discovered the Dragon Man skull in 1933. The man, who was constructing a bridge over the Songhua River when that part of the country was under Japanese occupation, took home the specimen and stored it at the bottom of a well for safekeeping. The man never retrieved his treasure, and the cranium, with one tooth still attached in the upper jaw, remained unknown to science for decades until his relatives learned about it before his death. His family donated the fossil to Hebei GEO University, and researchers first described it in a set of studies published in 2021 that found the skull to be at least 146,000 years old. The researchers argued that the fossil merited a new species name given the unique nature of the skull, naming it Homo longi — which is derived from Heilongjiang, or Black Dragon River, the province where the cranium was found. Some experts at the time hypothesized that the skull might be Denisovan, while others have lumped the cranium in with a cache of difficult-to-classify fossils found in China, resulting in intense debate and making molecular data from the fossil particularly valuable. Given the skull's age and backstory, Fu said she knew it would be challenging to extract ancient DNA from the fossil to better understand where it fit in the human family tree. 'There are only bones from 4 sites over 100,000 (years old) in the world that have ancient DNA,' she noted via email. Fu and her colleagues attempted to retrieve ancient DNA from six samples taken from Dragon Man's surviving tooth and the cranium's petrous bone, a dense piece at the base of the skull that's often a rich source of DNA in fossils, without success. The team also tried to retrieve genetic material from the skull's dental calculus — the gunk left on teeth that can over time form a hard layer and preserve DNA from the mouth. From this process, the researchers managed to recover mitochondrial DNA, which is less detailed than nuclear DNA but revealed a link between the sample and the known Denisovan genome, according to one new paper published in the journal Cell. 'Mitochondrial DNA is only a small portion of the total genome but can tell us a lot. The limitations lie in its relatively small size compared to nuclear DNA and in the fact that it is only inherited from the matrilineal side, not both biological parents,' McRae said. 'Therefore, without nuclear DNA a case could be made that this individual is a hybrid with a Denisovan mother, but I think that scenario is rather less likely than this fossil belonging to a full Denisovan,' he added. Mounting evidence The team additionally recovered protein fragments from the petrous bone samples, the analysis of which also suggested the Dragon Man skull belonged to a Denisovan population, according to a separate paper published Wednesday in the journal Science. Together, 'these papers increase the impact of establishing the Harbin cranium as a Denisovan,' Fu said. The molecular data provided by the two papers is potentially very important, said anthropologist Chris Stringer, research leader in human origins at London's Natural History Museum. 'I have been collaborating with Chinese scientists on new morphological analyses of human fossils, including Harbin,' he said. 'Combined with our studies, this work makes it increasingly likely that Harbin is the most complete fossil of a Denisovan found so far.' However, Xijun Ni, a professor at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing who, along with Stringer, worked on the initial Dragon Man research but not the latest studies, said that he is cautious about the outcome of the two papers because some of the DNA extraction methods used were 'experimental.' Ni also said he finds it strange that DNA was obtained from surface dental calculus but not inside the tooth and petrous bone, given that the calculus appeared to be more exposed to potential contamination. Nonetheless, he added that he thinks it is likely the skull and other fossils identified as Denisovan are from the same human species. The goal in using a new extraction approach was to recover as much genetic material as possible, Fu explained, adding that the dense crystalline structure of dental calculus may help prevent the host DNA from being lost. The protein signatures Fu and her team recovered indicated 'a Denisovan attribution, with other attributions very unlikely,' said Frido Welker, an associate professor of biomolecular paleoanthropology at the University of Copenhagen's Globe Institute in Denmark. Welker has recovered Denisovan proteins from other candidate fossils but was not involved in this research. 'With the Harbin cranium now linked to Denisovans based on molecular evidence, a larger portion of the hominin fossil record can be compared reliably to a known Denisovan specimen based on morphology,' he said. A name and a face for Denisovans With the Dragon Man skull now linked to Denisovans based on molecular evidence, it will be easier for paleoanthropologists to classify other potential Denisovan remains from China and elsewhere. McRae, Ni and Stringer all said they thought it was likely that Homo longi would become the official species name for Denisovans, although other names have been proposed. 'Renaming the entire suite of Denisovan evidence as Homo longi is a bit of a step, but one that has good standing since the scientific name Homo longi was technically the first to be, now, tied to Denisovan fossils,' McRae said. However, he added that he doubts the informal name of Denisovan is going anywhere anytime soon, suggesting it might become shorthand for the species, as Neanderthal is to Homo neanderthalensis. The findings also make it possible to say a little more about what Denisovans might have looked like, assuming the Dragon Man skull belonged to a typical individual. According to McRae, the ancient human would have had very strong brow ridges, brains 'on par in size to Neanderthals and modern humans' but larger teeth than both cousins. Overall, Denisovans would have had a blocky and robust-looking appearance. 'As with the famous image of a Neanderthal dressed in modern attire, they would most likely still be recognizable as 'human,'' McRae said. 'They are still our more mysterious cousin, just slightly less so than before,' he added. 'There is still a lot of work to be done to figure out exactly who the Denisovans were and how they are related to us and other hominins.'
BBC News
a day ago
- Science
- BBC News
Dragon Man: Ancient skull 'reveals what mysterious Denisovans looked like'
Scientists have linked genetic material extracted from an ancient skull found in China in 2018 to a mysterious group of early skull, nicknamed 'Dragon Man' had fascinated experts because it didn't seem to match any other prehistoric human. Now, an expert study says it has linked genetic material from the fossil with previous bones belonging to an group of prehistoric humans called Denisovans. Read on to find out more about Dragon Man, the Denisovans and how they made the discovery. Who is Dragon Man? The "Dragon Man" or Homo longi was the name given to the early relative whose fossilised skull was first given to experts in China in 2018, after reportedly being first discovered back in skull is thought to be around 146,000 years old and has been identified as a male of around 50 years finding was extra interesting to scientists who said they believed the Dragon Man was closer to modern humans than Neanderthals. Who are the Denisovans? Meanwhile Denisovans were a species of ancient humans, distinct from Neanderthals, another species of ancient are extinct relatives of modern humans who at one point lived alongside homo sapiens (humans like us). Denisovans are believed to have lived in Asia, 285 thousand to 25 thousand years ago. They were first identified from DNA taken from finger bone found in Siberia in then although other Denisovans have been identified, their appearance had remained a mystery. A team from the Institute of Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing worked on linking the Dragon Man fossil to the team failed to retrieve DNA from the skull's tooth and petrous bone, a section at the bottom of the skull which is usually a rich source of DNA in it was the hardened plaque on the teeth known as tartar which gave them results they could on this evidence, Denisovans can finally be would have had strong brow ridges, larger teeth than Neanderthals and modern humans, but brains around the same size. "I really feel that we have cleared up some of the mystery surrounding this population," said Qiaomei Fu, lead author of the new research. "After 15 years, we know the first Denisovan skull."It's hoped that this research could help identify Denisovan bones in other museum collections too.
