New Species Of Humans? Homo Longi / Dragon Man

The skull is known under 2 different names, the Harbin Cranium and the Dragon Man Skull.
It’s proposed that this skull belongs to a new species, known as Homo longi, but there are many anthropologists that believe the skull belongs to a Denisovan.
All the way back in the 1930’s there was a construction of a bridge in the Heilongjiang Province of China near the Harbin City.
The Heilongjiang Province is often called the Long Jiang, this literally means Dragon River and this is where the name Dragon man comes from and it’s also why the species currently bears the name of Homo longi.
The man who discovered the skull hid it in a well, unbeknownst to the rest of the world and when he was on his death bed he revealed its location, therefore it was recovered in 2018 and subsequently analysed.
Part of the team that analysed the skull was Xijun Ni, from the Department of Palaeomammalogy at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, he said that this was one of the most complete crania he had ever seen, an amazing discovery and it’s also among the largest Homo skull ever found.
The skull falls within the range of Neanderthal and Homo spaiens skulls that were found and is quite a bit larger than the skulls of Homo erectus, Homo naledi, Homo floresiensis and even bigger than some of the skulls of Homo heidelbergensis.
This last fact was corroborated by Palaeoanthropologist Chris Stringer from the Natural History Museum of London, who was a member of the research team as well.
The team that researched the skull estimate that it belonged to a man of approximately 50 years of age, who lived somewhere between 146,000 and 296,000 years ago.
The researchers used sophisticated geometrical analysis, including strontium isotopic ratios and X-ray fluorescence dating methods among others, and they were able to date for certain that the skull has to be at least 146,000 years old, placing it in the middle Pleistocene, which is known as one of the dynamic era’s of migrations of archaic humans.
The cranial features are a mix of archaic and modern humans, large eye sockets and thick brow ridges like we see in Neanderthals but the face itself looks like the bigger version of Homo sapiens with a brain size equal to that of modern humans.
The cheekbones are flat and low with a shallow canine cavity, the face itself seems reduced and tucked under the brain case.
These morphological details are critical for understanding the evolution of the Homo genus and the origins of us, Homo sapiens and how they interbred with the Denisovans and Neanderthals.

#DragonManSkull #HomoLongi #NewHumanSpecies

Music: Adrian von Ziegler

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[robwilkes]

Kayleigh, I genuinely appreciate your energy, enthusiasm, and obvious joy that you bring to what could otherwise be dry, technical topics. Thank you.

[keeskapteyn]

I love how you are very careful in asserting where you stand on what the truth actually is in as far as the lineage of these remains that have been found. There is still so much to be explored here and it's tantalizing to know that not all the questions have been answered. I really respect you for hanging back and letting the experts do their work and I feel like I am right there alongside you with waiting for the final results. This is indeed fascinating and you make it fun to hypothesize and wonder. Dank je, Kayleigh, for all you do to bring us news about paleontology, the origin of our species and the reaches of our heritage. Hartelijk bedankt! <3

[e.f.]

Also, I genuinely appreciate that you think towards a conclusion, not from one.

The open mind is the inquiring mind. And it is a mind receptive. A receptive mind is the mind that is capable of accepting into itself the challenge of thinking, the challenge of knowing and the challenge of fact.

[pedrodelatorre]

So glad I found your channel. You're most informative and incredibly entertaining. Thank you.

[JupiterJane]

I love your style, you are so sweet and open minded, it's nice to continue to get young up and coming minds reporting truth....respect 😎👍❤

[johnkey]

Dear Miss once again your infectious enthusiasm is just

[crowolfe]

Thank you! I'm writing a paper for my Bio Anth class on how they jumped to naming this a species before investigating other avenues. I do understand that they wanted to be on the forefront of naming a new species because there's a stupid myth that there isn't much left to discover. It helps me to get overviews of a topic like this before diving into the journal papers, and this has been exactly what I needed! Thanks!

[ajb]

Looking forward to this one Kayleigh, Hooe your days been full of awesomeness

[johnirby]

I always watch History with Kayleigh during lunch. Keep making these awesome videos! ❤

[georgethompson]

It would be rather elegant if Homo Longi was the missing Denisovans, it would make a world of sense that this group was the same as the one we'd been searching for. Having two different but similar groups of archaic humans in asia could get confusing, although a hybrid wouldn't go amiss.

If Homo Longi turns out to be a Denisovan then which name would prevail, I kinda prefer calling them dragon men than just Denisovans honestly.

[jodyterry]

You have a good sense of humor that makes the show and your reaction towards the literature and the discoveries that makes the difference. Thanks

[jeffreybell]

It’s great to watch your refreshing theories on many subjects! You have a great voice that is pleasing and you keep the entire topic interesting!

[thenanny]

You are doing great. I enjoy and look forward to you shearing your work with us.

[ogrehaslayers]

Binging your videos like crazy the last few days. Just discovered your channel and loving it!

[paulomedford]

I'm Brazilian, graduated in history, your videos and your explanations are great, excellent work. 🇧🇷

[sashurhenninger]

Thank you for having accessible captions for my students!

[dougalexander]

Love your edutainment. Much respect for your hard work and presentation.

[Wykasclassroom]

Fantastic stuff. Thank you for the work you do.

[revrocks]

Good tune Kayleigh and thank you for the research! Looking forward to the next video.

[MegalithHunter]

Really interesting. This area of research has changed so much over the past 100 years. New discoveries and new technology keep pushing it forward. In Malta the famous long-headed skulls weren't really that erm long after all. There's also a lot of reference to other long-headed skulls from different sites in early excavation notes. But, classifications were different then hence the way they were discussed.