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A mysterious skull that recovered from the bottom of a well in northeastern China in 2018 sparked a dance when it does not coincide with any prehistoricly known types of prehistoric. Now, scientists say they have found evidence of the place that fossil suits, and this may be a major piece in another hidden development mystery.
After several failed attempts, researchers were able to extract genetic materials from the fossilized skull – Dragon man, nicknamed – Connect it to a mysterious group of the first people known as the name Denisovan. Dozens of fossilized bone fragments have already been found Denisovan and It was identified Using old DNA. But the small sampling size did not provide a few idea about the shape of this dark population of the old hominins, and the group was never appointed as an official scientific name.
Scientists usually think about skulls, with bumps and hills, the best type of remaining fossil to understand the shape or appearance of a type of extinct homein. The new results, if confirmed, can put a face to Denisovan’s name effectively.
“I really feel that we have cleared some ambiguity surrounding this population,” said Qiaomei Fu, a professor at the Institute of Excavations and Old Science, is part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. “After 15 years, we know the first Denisovan skull.”
Denisovan was first discovered in 2010 by the Shama Fu team – which was then a young researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany – from the old DNA in the pink fossils in Denisova cave in the Tai Mountains in Russia. An additional residue was discovered in the cave, from which the group gets its name, and elsewhere in Asia still add to the incomplete image.
Ryan McCray, the old scientist at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, who did not participate in the studies, said that the new research, described in two scientific papers published on Wednesday, said, “It will certainly be among the papers of the old year, if not greater, and the discussion in this field will stimulate” for some time. “
Results can help filling gaps at a time when homo Sapiens was not the only humans wandering on the planet – and they teach scientists more about contemporary humans. Our sex has lived once for tens of thousands of years and Interred with both Denisovan and Anandal, before extinction. Most people today carry The genetic heritage of those old meetings. Primitive excavations have been the subject of study for more than a century, but the little details are known about our mysterious cousins Denisovan, and the skull fossils can reveal a lot.
The artist’s impression depicts how Dragon Man looks. Chuang Chao
Long
A worker in the city of Harbin in northeastern China discovered the skull of the dragon man in 1933. The man, who was building a bridge over the Songua River when this part of the country was under Japanese occupation, discovered the sample to the house and stored it at the bottom of the well for safe memorization.
The man has never recovered a treasure, and the cranium is still, with the presence of one teeth associated with the upper jaw, unknown to decades until his relatives knew that before his death. His family donated the excavation of Hebei Geo University, and the researchers described it for the first time in a group of Studies published in 2021 found The skull is at least 146,000 years.
The researchers argued that Al -Ahfouri deserves the name of the new species in view of the unique nature of the skull, and its name is Homo Longi – which was derived from Heilongjiang, or the Black Dragon River, the boycott that has been found. Some experts assumed at that time that the skull may be Denisovan, while others assemble the skull with a The storage memory of excavation that is difficult to classify It was found in China, which led to intense debate and making molecular data from excavations of special value.
Looking at the life of the skull and its background, Fu said she knew it would be difficult to extract the old DNA from Al -Hafori to understand the best place in the human family tree. “There are only 4 locations more than 100,000 (years) in the world that have old DNA,” I noticed via email.
Fu and her colleagues have tried to recover old DNA from six samples taken from the remaining Dragon Man teeth and the fine cranial bone, a dense piece at the base of the skull that is often a rich source of DNA in fossils, without success.
The team also tried to recover the genetic materials from the calculus calculation of the teeth in the skull – absent on the teeth that over time can form a solid layer and keep the DNA from the mouth. From this process, the researchers managed to recover the DNA for mitochondria, which is less detailed than the nuclear DNA but revealed a link between the sample and the well -known Denisovan genome, according to a new paper published in Magazine.
“Mitochondria DNA is only a small part of the total genome, but it can tell us a lot. The restrictions lie in their relatively small size compared to the nuclear DNA and in the fact that it is only inherited from the light side, not both biological parents,” said Mcrae.
“Therefore, without the nuclear DNA, a case can be presented that this person is a hybrid with Denisovan’s mother, but I think the scenario is less likely than this fossil that belongs to the complete Denisovan,” he added.
DNA scientists have extracted the calculus calculus. – Institute of Poor Excavations and Old Science at the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Rising evidence
In addition, the team regained protein fragments from rock bone samples, which also suggested analyzing that the Dragon Man skull belonged to the residents of Denisovan, according to a separate paper published on Wednesday in Science Magazine.
Together, “these papers increase the effect of creating a haranium haranium as Denisovan.”
Anthropologist Chris Strenger, a pioneer in the human origins of the Natural History Museum in London, said the molecular data provided by the two papers is very important.
“I have cooperated with Chinese scientists about the new morphological analyzes of human excavation, including fleeing,” he said. “Along with our studies, this work makes it likely to be fugitives is the most complete fossils of Denisovan that have been found so far.”
However, Xijun Ni, a professor at the Institute of Poor Excavations and Old Science in Beijing, said alongside Stringer, as well as the initial Dragon Man research but not the latest studies, he has warned of the results of the paper because some methods of extracting DNA used “experimentally”. Ni also said that he finds that it is strange that the DNA is obtained from the calculus calculus, but not inside the teeth and rock bone, given that the calculus calculation seems more vulnerable to potential pollution.
However, he added that he believed that it is likely that the skull and other fossils are determined as Denisovan of the same human type.
Fu explained that the goal of using the new extraction approach is to recover the largest possible genetic material, adding that the thick crystal structure of the tooth calculation may help prevent the loss of host DNA.
Fredo Wilker, associate professor of molecular molecule at the Globe Institute in Denmark, said that protein signatures are the signature of Fu and her team had referred to “the support of Denisovan, with very unlikely.” Wilker has regained Denisovan proteins from other candidate fossils, but she did not participate in this research.
He said: “With the presence of Harin Caraneum now associated with Denisovans on the basis of molecular evidence, a larger part of the Even Domein fossil record can be compared to a well -known sample based on formation.”
Name and face to Denisovan
With the Dragon Man skull that is now associated with Denisovans based on molecular evidence, it will be easier for old scientists to classify other potential Dendisovan remains from China and other places. Mcrae, Ni and Striner said they believed that Homo Longi will become the name of Denisovan’s official species, although other names are proposed.
Macray said: “The rename of a full wing of Denisovan’s evidence, as Homo Longi is a step, but it has a good position because the scientific name Homo Longi was technically the first to be, now, linked to Denisovan’s fossils.” However, he added that he suspects that the informal name of Denisovan will go anywhere any time soon, indicating that it may become a shortcut to species, as Neanderthal is homo Neandrthalensis.
The results also allow more about what Denisovan might seem to be, assuming that the Dragon Man skull belongs to a typical person. According to MCRAE, the old man could have had a very strong hills for al -Hibin, and the brains of “equal to primitive human beings and modern human beings” but the most teeth of both cousins. In general, Dinisovan could have had a strong and strong appearance.
“As with the famous image of Anandal wearing modern clothes, it is still likely that it can be recognized as” human. “
He added: “The most mysterious cousin are still a little less than before.” “There is still a lot of work to do to find out exactly who Denisovan was and how they are associated with us and for us other homes.”
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