Iconic ‘Dragon Man’ Skull Offers First Glimpse of What a Denisovan’s Face Looked Like, New Genetic Studies Suggest
The mysterious ancient humans were only known from fossil fragments. Now, two papers argue a skull uncovered in China belongs to this group, after examining preserved DNA and proteins
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In 2010, DNA from a prehistoric finger bone found in Siberia’s Denisova cave revealed the existence of a new archaic human that shared a common ancestor with both Neanderthals and modern humans. Researchers dubbed these mysterious human cousins “Denisovans.” But while scientists have since identified other fragmentary remains, it’s never been enough to fully put a face to the name—despite the fact that Denisovans passed on some of their genes to modern day Melanesian people.
Now, two studies published last week in Science and Cell have potentially identified not just any Denisovan bone, but a nearly complete 146,000-year-old skull. The fossil in question was found in the city of Harbin in northeastern China and nicknamed the Dragon Man. Scientists previously identified it as representative of a new ancient human species: Homo longi.
But Qiaomei Fu—a paleogeneticist at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing who was the first to study Denisovans in 2010—suspected the Dragon Man to be a Denisovan as well, so she decided to analyze the skull.
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The Dragon Man was a huge male with flat cheeks and prominent facial features: a large mouth, strong brow ridges, a round nose and a big brain. According to the two new papers—both led by Fu—genetic evidence suggests the skull indeed belonged to a Denisovan, giving researchers an unprecedented glimpse into how these early humans looked.
“After 15 years, we give the Denisovan a face,” says paleoanthropologist Qiang Ji of Hebei GEO University in China, who was a co-author of both new papers and the original Homo longi research, to National Geographic’s Tim Vernimmen. “It’s really a special feeling.”
Did you know? The Dragon Man skull
- Chinese laborers originally discovered the Dragon Man skull in 1933 and reportedly hid it in an abandoned well during the Japanese occupation.
- The man who hid the skull mentioned it to his grandson before he died, and his family retrieved it in 2018.
Against all odds, the researchers extracted protein and DNA from the fossil, both of which they argue correspond with Denisovan genetics. They first examined a bone in the inner ear to see if it contained genetic material. While they immediately found 95 proteins—which showed connections to proteins found in other Denisovan remains—they had to dig harder for the DNA. Ultimately, they discovered some preserved ancient DNA in plaque on the skull’s teeth, among a significant amount of external contamination.
“They may have actually recovered many DNA fragments from me, because I studied and handled the specimens so many times,” Xijun Ni, a paleoanthropologist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and co-author of the Homo longi research, tells National Geographic.
The ancient mitochondrial DNA recovered from the plaque matched that of other known Denisovan fossils, indicating the skull belonged to a Denisovan, according to the research.
Ni, who was not involved in the new research, does not find the protein or DNA evidence sufficient enough to classify the Dragon Man as a Denisovan, reports National Geographic.
But University of Toronto paleoanthropologist Bence Viola, who was also not involved in the new studies, finds the evidence compelling. “Taking the two studies together, it’s pretty clear this is a Denisovan individual,” Viola tells Science’s Andrew Curry. “This evidence will make our life much easier, because we can compare specimens to this skull, not just fragments and teeth.”
In other words, if the Dragon Man really is a Denisovan, the individual’s nearly complete skull can help researchers identify other fossils as belonging to Denisovans. What’s more, it would indicate that the Denisovan distribution spread from Siberia all the way to northeast China, per a statement from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
It does, however, also raise another question—if the Dragon Man skull, previously identified as Homo longi, is a Denisovan, does that make all Denisovans Homo longi?
Chris Stringer, a paleoanthropologist at the Natural History Museum in London who was not involved in the recent studies, tells the New York Times’ Carl Zimmer that Homo longi is in fact “the appropriate species name for this group.”
John Hawks, however—a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison who also did not participate in the research—sticks with just “Denisovans,” per the publication. Like Neanderthals, Denisovans interbred with our own species, so Hawks argues both are subcategories of humans. “I’m pretty confident saying these are all Homo sapiens,” he explains to the New York Times. But the skull, he says, is definitively a Denisovan based on this work.
The new papers clear the way for even more research to clarify how Denisovans looked. Ryan McRae, a paleoanthropologist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History who did not participate in the recent research, tells CNN’s Katie Hunt that the new work will be “among, if not the, biggest paleoanthropology papers of the year,” and will continue to spark debate “for quite some time.”
