Ancient Chinese skull confirmed as Denisovan through DNA and protein analysis
New studies have identified the 146,000-year-old “Dragon Man” skull from Heilongjiang as belonging to a Denisovan using ancient DNA from dental plaque and protein data from bone.
Two recent papers in Cell and Science have clarified the identity of the nearly complete “Dragon Man” cranium discovered in Heilongjiang Province, dating to roughly 146,000 years ago. Scientists succeeded in retrieving ancient mitochondrial DNA from a minuscule 0.3-milligram plaque fragment on the remaining molar, separating it from a large proportion of modern human contamination and confirming Denisovan ancestry. In parallel, a protein-based approach examined two samples from the petrous bone, identifying 95 ancient proteins and reconstructing thousands of peptide sequences, which grouped the specimen with Denisovans with 98-100 % confidence.
Evolutionary anthropologist Carina Schlebusch highlighted the importance of having a verified Denisovan skeleton for anatomical reference. The discovery adds northeastern China to the map of Denisovan habitation, which already includes Siberia, the Tibetan Plateau and Taiwan, though the formal species name remains under debate.
Why it matters
It provides the first complete Denisovan skull, enabling direct study of their anatomy and expanding knowledge of their geographic distribution.
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