'Dragon Man': 140,000-year-old skull discovered in China
The skull is more than 140,000 years old but was still perfectly preserved
LAHORE (Web Desk) - Researchers in China have discovered an ancient skull that could possibly be 140,000 years old.
The specimen, which was actually found at Harbin in 1933, is nicknamed ‘Dragon Man’ and it came to the attention of scientists only recently. It was reportedly kept hidden in a well for 85 years to protect it from the Japanese Army.
In 2018, it was dug up and handed to Ji Qiang, a professor at Hebei GEO University.
According to reports, the skull is more than 140,000 years old but was still perfectly preserved in northeastern China.
Now, analysis of the skull has revealed that it represented a new species of ancient people that are more closely related to humans than the Neanderthals.
The researchers believe the finding could fundamentally change our thinking and understanding of human evolution.
The specimen belonged to a large-brained male in his 50s with deep-set eyes and thick brow ridges, the study has said.
It also adds the male had a wide face with low and flat cheekbones that made him resemble modern people more closely than other extinct members of the human family tree, reported AFP.
The study has now been published in the journal The Innovation.
He added that the ‘Dragon Man’ would be the ‘sister species’ to humans and closer ancestor of the modern man than the Neanderthals.
In 2019, scientists found a broken skull in a Greek cave and claimed that it is the oldest modern human fossil ever found outside Africa. The skull was found in the Apidima cave on the Mani peninsula of the southern Peloponnese.
The partial skull was dated to be at least 210,000 years old.
