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Who Was “Dragon Man?”
When I was a kid, we still talked about the “missing link” in human evolution. We now have a much clearer idea, but every so often something shows up that causes us to reevaluate.
And the latest thing is Homo lungi or “Dragon Man.”
What Do We Have?
What we have is a single skull that was found at a construction site in Harbin, China, in 1933. The discoverer carefully hid it in a well because he was worried the Japanese would steal it.
The skull is remarkably well preserved…and resembles that of no other hominid species. It’s larger than Homo sapiens, with a heavy brow, square eye sockets, and large teeth. Those teeth indicate that Homo longi was an omnivore, although the lower jaw is missing. Oh, and it had space for a brain about 7 percent larger than ours. It’s another close relative, like the Neanderthal.
It’s about 146,000 years old.
It’s been declared to be a new species, Homo longi. Btw, this has nothing to do with them being actual dragons, but refers to the Dragon River region Harbin is located in.
The single skull belonged to a man who was about 50 at the time of his death.
But, is this actually a new species?