Photo by HsinKai Tai on Unsplash (illustrative)
On 18 June 2025, researchers led by Qiaomei Fu of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing reported in Science and Cell that the Harbin cranium, a skull at least 146,000 years old from northeastern China, belonged to a Denisovan. It is the first skull linked to this extinct group of ancient humans.
Key facts
The team recovered 95 ancient proteins from the skull, and it carried three protein variants found only in Denisovans.
Mitochondrial DNA was extracted from hardened dental plaque on the skull's only remaining tooth.
The DNA falls within known Denisovan variation and is related to early Denisovans from southern Siberia.
The skull was found in Harbin in 1933 and stayed hidden until 2018, when it was nicknamed 'Dragon Man'.
Why it matters
Denisovans interbred with our own ancestors, and traces of their DNA survive in some people today, yet until now only a handful of fossils, such as a finger bone, a jaw and a rib, were known. A whole skull shows what they looked like and helps scientists recognize other Denisovan fossils across Asia.
Worth noting
Some researchers, including scientists who had named the skull a separate species, Homo longi, say the molecular evidence is not conclusive. The dental plaque held a lot of modern DNA contamination, which the team says it filtered out.