A laborer discovered the fossil and hid it in a well for 85 years. Scientists say it could help sort out the human family tree and how our species eme

Discovery of ‘Dragon Man’ Skull in China May Add Species to Human Family Tree

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2021-06-25 15:30:05

A laborer discovered the fossil and hid it in a well for 85 years. Scientists say it could help sort out the human family tree and how our species emerged.

Scientists on Friday announced that a massive fossilized skull that is at least 140,000 years old is a new species of ancient human. It belonged to a mature male who had a huge brain, massive brow ridges, deep set eyes and a bulbous nose. The skull had remained hidden in an abandoned well for 85 years, after a laborer came across it at a construction site in China.

The researchers named the new species Homo longi and gave it the nickname “Dragon Man,” for the Dragon River region of northeast China where the skull was discovered. The team said that Homo longi, and not the Neanderthals, was the extinct human species mostly closely related to our own. If confirmed, that could significantly change our view of how — and even where — our species, Homo sapiens, evolved.

A number of experts questioned this conclusion, published in three papers that provided the first detailed look at the fossil. But many still thought that the find could help scientists reconstruct the human family tree.