'Dragon man' replaces Neanderthals as humankind's closest relative

An artist's impression of what Dragon man may have looked like. Image / Kai Geng

A species of ancient human, nicknamed the "Dragon man", has replaced Neanderthals as humankind's closest relative, researchers have found.

Humans and Neanderthals are thought to be intrinsically linked, evolutionary siblings who coexisted, mated and likely fought each other.

But researchers have discovered that the Dragon man, scientifically named Homo longi, is more closely related to Homo sapiens than Neanderthals.

"We found our long-lost sister lineage," said Dr Xijun Ni, a professor of palaeoanthropology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.

Analysis of the skull revealed the individual was likely a male about 50 years old who had large, square eye sockets, a thick brow, a wide mouth and big teeth.

"The fossil is one of the most complete human cranial fossils in the world," said co-author Dr Qiang Ji, of Hebei GEO University.

The researchers claim the form of ancient human on the far left may have evolved into the relatively modern Dragon Man on the far right over millions of years. Photo / Kai Geng

Only the skull was found; no other bones survived. But this provided scientists with enough information to learn how he may have looked.

The major finding, they say, was the size of the skull and the brain.

Professor Chris Stringer, co-author of the study and doyen of human evolution at the Natural History Museum, said: "The [Dragon man] cranium is huge, showing either the largest or second-largest values for many measurements in our fossil database, and its brain volume matches that of modern humans."

The well-preserved skull of Dragon man is thought to be 146,000 years old. It was unearthed in 1933, but required modern analysis to be accurately dated.

🚨 Breaking news: A huge skull found in the Songhua River in China represents a new sister lineage for Homo sapiens. It dates to at least 146,000 years old and has been dubbed 'Dragon Man'.

This is a remarkable piece in the jigsaw of human evolution. https://t.co/o3SMeyE8Pm

— Natural History Museum (@NHM_London) June 25, 2021

It is possible, the researchers say, the Dragon man species overlapped, met and lived alongside Homo sapiens.

Scientists gave the new species the name Dragon man because the skull was discovered in Heilongjiang province, which is also known as Long Jiang. The English translation is Dragon river.

The findings have implications for the timeline of human evolution. Current theories state modern humans and Neanderthals shared a common ancestor, but split off into two different lineages about 600,000 years ago. The new study, published in the journal Cell, says the split may have been far earlier, more than a million years ago.

However, the timeline of human evolution was further muddied this week by the discovery of an unknown Neanderthal ancestor in the Levant. Researchers in Israel say the skull belonged to a person who was likely one of the last remaining individuals of an ancient species that lived about 130,000 years ago.