SCIENTISTS ARE IN SHOCK today after the discovery of a million-year-old early human skull in China.
The finding of the Homo longi (“dragon man”) skull in China will force a re-examination of long-held beliefs about the journey of modern humanity across the world, from its roots in the Australopithicine proto-humans which originated from Africa.
Homo longi had some Homo sapiens features, so is seen as a sister to Homo sapiens (modern humans).
RECONSTRUCTED A SKULL
Scientists re-analysed a crushed skull known as Yunxian 2, which earlier examination had listed as Homo erectus remains, and published their findings in the latest issue of Science, an academic journal, published this week (link provided below).
Xiaobo Feng and his team reconstructed the 1-million-year-old cranium successfully by removing the compression and distortion created by the damage. They were stunned to find it was a skull of Homo longi, not the more primitive Homo erectus.
“In doing so, they found that the cranium contained both primitive and derived traits and concluded that it is representative of the H. longi clade, which is sister to H. sapiens and likely contained the Denisovans,” said Science editor Sacha Vignieri.
The conclusion is that Homo longi, “dragon man” includes another mysterious eastern “nearly human” group known as the Denisovans, because their bones were found in the Denisova Cave in Siberia.
Since then, further evidence of Denisovan presence has been found across China, including in Harbin, Tibet, and Penghu island, which is in the coastal waters between Fujian and Taiwan island.
SPLITTING POINT
The “dragon man” findings mean that the Yunxian 2 skull becomes the oldest known splitting point between several early human lines: one of which led to Homo sapiens (modern humans) and others which led to Denisovans and the Neanderthals.
Two skulls, Yunxian 1 and 2, were found at a site on a terrace of the Hanjiang River in the Yunyang district (formerly Yunxian City) of Shiyan City, Hubei Province, China.
Their great age and apparent possession of primitive features of both Homo erectus and Homo sapiens are now seen as key to reconstructing the evolution of modern humans.
WHAT THIS MEANS
To be clear, the findings do NOT suggest that the entire journey of human evolution began in China. Scientist still believe that the original pre-human groups known as Australopithicines (“southern apes”) clearly appeared in Africa.
But it does suggest that modern humans’ near ancestors and near relatives existed in Asia much longer ago than previously realized.
To read the full scientific paper, click here.
Image at the top comes from the scientific paper quoted.