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) A nearly intact ancient human skull has revealed what mysteries of human evolution have been revealed? 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.

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

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

According to reports, this skull is very huge, about one-fifth 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 dragons have a fairly high level of intelligence

What is the relationship between Dragon Man and us? Previously, another ancient human, Neanderthal, was believed to have the closest relationship with Homo sapiens

"Analysis of phylogeny shows that the differentiation of Neanderthals, Homo sapiens, and dragons occurred earlier than imagined

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

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

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.

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