An unknown species of people: who owns a 146,000-year-old skull found in China?

In one of the scientific journals in 2021, scientists stated that the skull that was found in China in the 30s near the city of Harbin (Heilongjiang) does not belong to Homo sapiens, i.e. to our species, but to a new, previously unknown one. This as yet unexplored human lineage has been called Homo longi, the dragon man.

The story itself connected with the discovery of the skull is quite interesting. In the 1930s, construction began on a bridge over the Songhua River. By chance, a worker finds a strange human skull. And since at that time this Chinese territory was under the occupation of Japan, the worker decided to safely hide the artifact in an abandoned well. The Chinese carefully packed the skull and kept it for many years. Just before his death (2018), he confessed to his grandson about the find, and he gave the skull to Hebei University.

After analyzing the skull, scientists came to the conclusion that this is a new type of person. The skull and comparable brain volume are 10% larger than those of our species Homo sapiens. Different scientists have different conclusions, but some suggest that, despite the size, the dragon man’s brain was more primitive.