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A massive fossil skull from Harbin in China, nicknamed 'Dragon Man', was shown in 2025 to belong to a Denisovan, an extinct cousin of our species known until then mostly from DNA. For the first time, scientists could see a Denisovan face.

Science / Cell (2025)

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According to the family's account, a labourer found the skull in 1933 while building a bridge in Harbin, then under Japanese control, and hid it in an abandoned well; his grandson handed it to scientists in 2018. It is at least 146,000 years old. In 2021 researchers named it a new species, Homo longi. In 2025 a team led by Qiaomei Fu recovered proteins from the skull and mitochondrial DNA from hardened plaque on its one remaining tooth, and both matched the Denisovans. These archaic humans were first identified in 2010 from a finger bone in Denisova Cave in Siberia and were otherwise known only from a few jaws and teeth.

Türkçe oku
Çin'in Harbin kentinden, “Ejderha Adamı” diye anılan iri bir fosil kafatasının Denisova insanına ait olduğu 2025'te anlaşıldı. Bu soyu tükenmiş insan akrabamız o güne dek daha çok DNA'sından tanınıyordu; bilim insanları ilk kez bir Denisova yüzü görebildi.
Science / Cell (2025)

Ailenin anlattığına göre kafatasını 1933'te, o sırada Japon denetimindeki Harbin'de köprü inşaatında çalışan bir işçi buldu ve terk edilmiş bir kuyuya sakladı; torunu da onu 2018'de bilim insanlarına teslim etti. Kafatası en az 146.000 yıllık. Araştırmacılar 2021'de ona yeni bir tür adı, Homo longi, verdi. 2025'te Qiaomei Fu'nun ekibi kafatasından protein, kalan tek dişindeki taşlaşmış diş plağından da mitokondriyal DNA elde etti; ikisi de Denisova insanlarıyla eşleşti. Bu arkaik insanlar ilk kez 2010'da Sibirya'daki Denisova Mağarası'nda bulunan bir parmak kemiğinden tanımlanmıştı ve bunun dışında yalnızca birkaç çene ve dişten biliniyordu.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Denisovan
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