Report by Preetinkar Singh
Harbin (China), June 28: Just days after pieces of skull belonging to Nesher Ramla Homo were found in Tel Aviv, Israel, a fossilized skull has been found in a well in the Chinese city of Harbin. Researchers believe that it belongs to a new species of hominins (species related to humans) i.e. Homo Longi or Dragon Man (as it’s found in Long Jiang i.e. the Dragon river region of northeast China). The skull is between 138,000 to 309,000 years old. It belongs to the Middle Pleistocene age (the period ranging between approximately 770,000 to 126000 years ago). The skull is of a 50-year- old male with a combination of primitive features like massive brain cavity, bulbous nose, and thick eyebrow ridges and features belonging to Homo sapiens like flat and delicate cheekbones. The skull also features almost square like eye sockets and a wide mouth.
The discovery is the latest addition to the human family tree. The fossil resembles the pre-Neanderthal remains from Europe and challenge the viewpoint that Neanderthal population originated in Europe.
History of the skull-
Almost 100 years ago, during the construction of a bridge in Harbin, a labourer discovered a well preserved human skull and hid it in a deserted well in his house to protect it. The skull was left hidden in the well for around 85 years. Upon its discovery, Ji Qiang convinced the family to donate it to the Geoscience Museum of Hebei GEO University.
