The ″ Homo longi ″: scientists claim that a new human species is our closest ancestor | Science and Ecology | DW

Scientists announced on Friday (25.06.2021) that a skull discovered in northeast China represents a newly discovered human species they named In a plus, or “dragon man,” and they say the lineage should replace the Neanderthals as our closest relatives.

Harbin’s skull was discovered in the 1930s in the city of the same name in Heilongjiang province, but it was believed to have been hidden in a well for 85 years to protect it from the Japanese military. It was then unearthed and handed over to Ji Qiang, a professor at Hebei GEO University, in 2018.

“In our analyzes, the Harbin group is most closely linked to homo sapiens that the Neanderthals, that is Harbin, shared with us a common ancestor more recent than the Neanderthals, ”co-author Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London told AFP.

“If you look at different species, then this is our sister species (most closely related).” The results were published in three articles in the journal Innovation.

The Harbin Skull

The skull is at least 146,000 years old, placing it in the Middle Pleistocene. It could house a brain comparable in size to modern humans, but with wider eye sockets, thick browbones, a wide mouth, and oversized teeth.

“While displaying typical archaic human features, the Harbin skull exhibits a mosaic combination of primitive and derived characters that sets it apart from all other species of Homo named above, “said Ji, co-author of the study. The name derives from Long Jiang, which literally means” river of the dragon. ”

The team believe the skull belonged to a man in his 50s who lived in a forested floodplain.

“This population would have been hunter-gatherers, living off the land,” Stringer said. “Considering the current winter temperatures in Harbin, it seems they endured even more intense cold than the Neanderthals.”

Considering where the skull was found, as well as the large size of the man involved, the team believe the In a plus it could have been well adapted to harsh environments and could have spread throughout Asia.

Millions of simulations with a computer model

Researchers first studied the external morphology of the skull using more than 600 features, then performed millions of simulations with a computer model to build relationship trees with other fossils.

“These suggest that Harbin and other fossils from China form a third line of later humans alongside the Neanderthals and the homo sapiensStringer explained.

If he homo sapiens came to East Asia during the time when the In a plus was present, they could have walked through, although it is not clear.

Many questions are also asked about its culture and technological level, due to the lack of archaeological material.

But this discovery could reshape our understanding of human evolution.

“This establishes a third human lineage in East Asia with its own evolutionary history and shows how important the region was to human evolution,” Stringer said.

LITTLE (AFP, The New York Times)