In 1989 and 1990 , a pair of 1 - million - year - former skull belonging to an unknown human species were unearth in Yunyang District of Hubei responsibility , Central China . A third similar skull was found nearby in 2022 , but the mystery did n’t become any less muzzy ; were theyHomo erectusor earlyHomo sapiens ? Might they even be touch on to the elusive Asian “ Dragon Man ” lineage ?
In a new report – which is yet to be peer - review – scientist have reconstructed one of the skulls and make the juicy claim that the someone may be skinny to the last vernacular ascendant ofH. sapiensand the Dragon Man lineage .
Dragon Man , scientifically known asHomo longi , is an out species of antediluvian human that ’s known from a 146,000 - year - quondam skull found in the Taiwanese province of Heilongjiang , which mean Black Dragon River . Some have suggested Dragon Man is the same mintage asthe Denisovans – the problematical out “ sister mintage ” of human that once be alongsideH. sapiensin Eurasia – although itsexact place in theHomofamilytree is uncertain .
peculiarly , it appears that the Dragon Man might also have an intriguing relationship to the three skulls found in Yunyang , known as the “ Yunxian Man ” .
To reach this stopping point , the researchers restore the skull of the Yunxian Man , in the main using the better - preserved specimen ( Yunxian 2 ) . They then studied the human body of the rebuilt skull to see how it compared toother members of theHomofamily .
While the Yunxian skull had a mosaic of features , many aspects of its cranium look as if it belonged to an early phallus of the Dragon Man lineage .
“ The reconstructed Yunxian 2 suggest that it is an early phallus of the Asian ‘ Dragon Man ’ lineage , which probably include the Denisovans , and is the sister chemical group of theHomo sapienslineage . Both theH. sapiensand Dragon Man lineages had deep roots poke out beyond the Middle Pleistocene , and the basal placement of the Yunxian fogey cranium suggests it represents a universe lying closely to the last common root of the two blood line , ” the study authors write .
At around 940,00 to 1.1 million year old , the Yunxian Man is significantly honest-to-goodness than the Dragon Man lineage andH. sapiens . However , its geological dating does neatly wed in with the theoretical time these two lineages initiate around 1.13 million and 930,000 years ago , severally .
Perhaps , therefore , the Yunxian Man is something of a last common ancestor between our mintage and the so - shout Dragon Man of East Asia , the research worker ponder .
“ It is reasonable to resolve that Yunxian is morphologically and chronologically close to the last vernacular ancestor of the stemma ofH. sapiensand Dragon Man , ” the study author explain .
The young paper is send on the pre - print serverbioRxiv .
