Scientists hail stunning 'Dragon Man' discovery

 

Dragon Man Skull
Photo: BBC News Website

            Recently, the BBC News Website reported that Chinese researchers have unveiled an ancient skull that could belong to a completely new species of human. Scientists claim that it is our closest evolutionary relative among known species of ancient human, such as Neanderthals and Homo erectus. The specimen represents a human group that lived in East Asia at least 146,000 years ago.

Although the skull was found at Harbin, north-east China, in 1933, it only came to the attention of scientists recently. Prof Chris Stringer from London's Natural History Museum, a leading UK expert in human evolution, and a member of the research team, said:

"In terms of fossils in the last million years, this is one of the most important yet discovered… What you have here is a separate branch of humanity that is not on its way to becoming Homo sapiens (our species) but represents a long-separate lineage which evolved in the region for several hundred thousand years and eventually went extinct."

This remarkable discovery has the potential to rewrite the story of human evolution. Analysis suggests that it is more closely related to Homo sapiens than it is to Neanderthals.  Researchers have assigned the specimen to a new species: Homo longi, from the Chinese word "long", meaning dragon. The skull is huge compared with the average skulls belonging to other human species. Its brain was comparable in size to those from our species.

Artist's impression of what Dragon Man may have looked like
Photo: BBC News Website

            The Harbin human cranium is one of the best-preserved of all archaic human fossils, and important for understanding the diversification of the Homo genus and the origin of Homo sapiens. It represents a new human lineage evolving in East Asia and is       a member of the sister group of H. sapiens.

Around 100,000 years ago there were several different groups of humans including modern humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans.

Neanderthals

The Neanderthals thrived in Europe for around 300,000 years before modern humans arrived. Excavations in Ibex, Vanguard, and Gorham’s Caves in Gibraltar have revealed evidence of Neanderthal occupation dating to possibly as late as 28,000 years ago. This makes Gibraltar the most recent Neanderthal occupation site yet discovered.

Reconstruction of what Neanderthals may have looked like

            Current research shows that Neanderthals were, and continue to be, an integral part of modern humanity. Our prehistoric cousins did not completely disappear from the earth, as their presence can still be identified within modern DNA. A jawbone from a man who lived 40,000 years ago reveals that six to nine percent of his genome is Neanderthal, the highest amount ever found in a modern human specimen. This remarkable find indicates that a Neanderthal was in his family as close as four generations back in his family tree - potentially his Great-Great Grandfather!

Denisovans

The Denisovans were a mysterious human species living in Asia before modern humans like us expanded across the world tens of thousands of years ago. Until recently, the only fossils came from a few fragments of bone and teeth from a single site in Siberia - Denisova Cave.

Artist's impression of a Denisovan

"In many ways, Denisovans resembled Neanderthals but in some traits, they resembled us and in others they were unique," said Prof Liran Carmel, a researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Scientists have found evidence that the Denisovans lived at high altitudes in Tibet, passing on a gene that helps modern people cope at similar elevations Present-day Sherpas, Tibetans and neighbouring populations have a gene variant, which was probably acquired when Homo sapiens mixed with the Denisovans thousands of years ago.

Professor Jean Jacques Hublin, from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, said:

"We can only speculate that living in this kind of environment, any mutation that was favourable to breathing an atmosphere impoverished in oxygen would be retained by natural selection."

Nesher Ramla Homo Type

Researchers working in Israel have identified a previously unknown type of ancient human that lived alongside our species more than 100,000 years ago. They believe the remains uncovered near the city of Ramla represent one of the "last survivors" of a very ancient human group. The finds consist of a partial skull and jaw from an individual who lived between 140,000 and 120,000 years ago. The scientists have named the newly discovered lineage the "Nesher Ramla Homo type".

Skull fragment and jawbone found near Ramla in Israel
Photo: BBC News Website

            The team thinks that early members of the Nesher Ramla Homo group were already present in the Near East some 400,000 years ago.

Conclusion

Humans and chimpanzees are very closely related and separated about 7.4 million years ago. There is only a 1% difference between the chimpanzee genome and our own suggesting that we have a common ancestor.

A re-evaluation of early human remains and artefacts from Morocco has suggested that the advent of Homo sapiens may have to be put back by 100,000 years. Archaeologists and palaeontologists believe that the oldest of the fossils comes from 300,000 to 350,000 years ago.

Recent discoveries show that humans left Africa many times prior to 60,000 years ago, and that they interbred with other hominins in many locations across Eurasia. Around 50,000 years ago, an improvement in the global climate, leading to the appearance of habitable lands where once there was desert, may have provided the opportunity for modern humans to spread into Europe.

The Harbin skull represents a new human lineage evolving in East Asia and is a member of a sister group of H. sapiens that lived at least 146,000 years ago.

For more information see:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-57432104

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-57586315

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-49760240

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-48107498

Migration is not Something New

Early Skulls

Until recently, the earliest evidence archaeologists had for human occupation in Ireland was dated to around 8000 BC. However, scientists have recently dated a fragment of butchered bear bone from a cave in County Clare to 10,500 BC, thereby, pushing back the date for human settlement in Ireland by 2,500 years. At a time of mass migration in the world it is, perhaps, timely to consider our origin as a species and how humans went on to inhabit the globe.

Humans and chimpanzees are very closely related and separated about 7.4 million years ago.  There is only a 1% difference between the chimpanzee genome and our own suggesting that we have a common ancestor.

Today, modern humans or Homo sapiens, inhabit the whole earth. Looking back over the last half a million years, the picture was much more diverse, with three distinct lineages appearing: Homo erectus in Asia; and Homo heidelbergensis giving rise to Homo neanderthalensis in Europe and Homo sapiens in Africa.

Image of Neanderthal Man

The Neanderthals thrived in Europe for around 300,000 years before modern humans arrived. The reason for the demise of this successful species remains a mystery. Neanderthals occupied Europe for at least 100,000 years during a period when glacial cycles dominated the climate. Excavations in Ibex, Vanguard, and Gorham’s Caves in Gibraltar have revealed evidence of Neanderthal occupation dating to possibly as late as 28,000 years ago. This makes Gibraltar the most recent Neanderthal occupation site yet discovered.

By 200,000 years ago, many innovations had been made in stone tool technology. For example, large handaxes became less common and were replaced with a range of smaller tools in more diverse toolkits. Tools made of flakes were favoured over large cores. Humans use tools to a much higher degree than any other animal and are the only existing species known to build fires, cook their food, wear clothes, and create art.

The first fossil evidence for any modern humans outside Africa comes from the Middle East, from  the archaeological sites of Skhul and Qafzeh in Israel, dating to around 120,000 years ago. However, this early expansion of modern humans was not maintained. A change to a colder climate may have driven those pioneers back into Africa. The expansion of our own species out of Africa that eventually led to the colonisation of the globe would start later – after 100,000 years ago.

Map showing the spread of humans

This dispersal out of Africa is believed to have started from Northeast Africa. Modern humans later spread worldwide, replacing earlier ancestors either through competition or interbreeding. They inhabited Eurasia (Europe and Asia) and Oceania (a region centred on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean) 40,000 years ago, and the Americas at least 14,500 years ago.)

Around 50,000 years ago, an improvement in the global climate, leading to the appearance of habitable lands where once there was desert, may have provided the opportunity for modern humans to spread into Europe.  Evidence from early modern human sites in Europe suggest that these early people moved into the continent along coasts and rivers, as they had done elsewhere.

Until about 10,000 years ago, humans lived as hunter-gatherers living in small nomadic groups, often in caves. Agriculture began independently in many parts of the world with different domesticated species. Hunter-gatherers already knew a great deal about plants and animals and often manipulated them or the environment to increase productivity. Farming entered Europe around 7000 BCE and was the main way of life across Europe by 4000 BCE.

Farming communities spreading into Central Europe around 5600 BCE had to adapt to bitter winters, heavy rainfall, and dense forests. They kept mainly cattle and farmed open river terraces. Farming spread through Western Europe and into other parts of Central, Northern, and Eastern Europe by 4000 BC.  Animals were initially kept for meat, hides, bones, and manure. Feeding animals on crop surpluses made them a food reserve, and large herds signified wealth and prestige. Domestic animals became far more important when people began using them also in other ways: for milk, wool, eggs, traction, and transport.

Examples of early metal working

The social importance of metals for making prestige objects with which people could show their status, led to the early development of metallurgy. Only later, with the development of alloys, did metal also become significant as a material for tools and weapons. Smelting copper and lead ores began in West Asia after 7000 BC, and by the sixth millennium BC casting was possible. By 2500 BC, metallurgy had spread through Europe. Bronze-working became widespread after 1800 BC with trade routes linking much of the continent circulating metals, particularly tin.

Prehistoric religion reflected people’s need to understand the world and explain disasters. Through rituals and offerings ancient societies sought to bribe or appease the divine forces controlling the world or its individual components. Since Neanderthal times, people have practised rites that showed concern for their dead, perhaps linked to a belief in an afterlife.

Newgrange Stone Age Passage Tomb

Burial in graves or tombs or under house floors, was common. Many societies practised other rites, including cremation, exposure, or disposal in watery places. Some thought it important to preserve the body and undertook mummification (for example, in Egypt and South America). Monumental tombs, such as tumuli, pyramids, and megaliths, could link the living and the dead to ancestral lands or sacred places.  

Humans and chimpanzees are very closely related and separated as recently as about 7.4 million years ago. Our ancient cousins, the Neanderthals thrived in Europe for around 300,000 years before modern humans arrived and may have survived until around 28,000 years ago. Innovation in stone tool technology aided the development and eventual spread of modern humans throughout the globe. Later developments in metal working and agriculture assisted this dispersal. Since Neanderthal times, people have practised rites that showed concern for their dead, perhaps linked to a belief in an afterlife.

Migration is not something new and, in a sense, we are all migrants whose ancestors were black and lived in Africa a long long time ago.

Further reading: Evolution - The Human Story (2011) by Dr.Alice Roberts

See also BBC DVD The Incredible Human Journey