In 2021, a team of scientists published in The Innovation magazine by Cell Press the discovery of a possible new archaic human species, Homo longi, dubbed "Dragon Man".
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The well-preserved skull, first reported in 2018, dates back to appproximately 146,000 years ago.
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It was uncovered in Harbin, in the Heilongjiang province of China.
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The fossil was unearthed in 1933 during Japan’s occupation of China and remained hidden until 2018.
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Co-author Xijun Ni, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Hebei GEO University, along with Prof Chris Stringer from the Natural History Museum of London, reported the Dragon Man was approximately 50 years old male that lived in a forested floodplain and was part of a small community.
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The community likely hunted mammals and birds, gathered fruits and vegetables, and even fished like modern humans.
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It is speculated that Homo longi may have co-existed or had contact with Homo sapiens.
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This particular specimen featured larger eye sockets, thicker ridges around the brow area, a wider mouth, and bigger teeth, but with a brain size similar to that of modern humans.
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The discovery suggests that Homo longi may be a closer sister group to Homo sapiens (modern humans) than the Neanderthals, another branch of humanity that represents a long-separate lineage which evolved in the region for several hundred thousand years and went extinct.
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This finding has the potential to rewrite the current understanding of human evolution and push back the common ancestor of modern humans earlier than previously thought.
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However, scientists such as Antoine Balzeau from the Museum of Humanity of France, Marta Mirazon Lahr from the University of Cambridge, and paleoanthropologist Jean-Jacques Hublin believe the skull may be a specimen of a Denisovan, another extinct lineage of archaic human species.
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A fragment of finger bone believed to be a new species, Denisovan, was discovered in a cave in Siberia, Russia in 2010.
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Warning: these questons and answers are not all representative of the way questions will be asked and answered in the pilot, because some questions are compound and some answers do not include citations.

Q: Where was Homo longi discovered?
A: Harbin, Heilongjiang province of China

Q: What does Dragon Man refer to?
A: Homo longi

Q: Was the Homo longi discovered a male or female?
A: Male

Q: What was the approximate age group of Homo longi specimen discovered in China?
A: About 50 years old

Q: Where was the discovery first published?
A: The Innovation by Cell Press

Q: Which institutions are involved in the research of Homo longi?
A: The Chinese Academy of Sciences and Hebei GEO University, and the Natural History Museum of London

Q: What physical trait is Homo longi similar to Homo sapiens?
A: A; It has similar brain size to Homo sapiens

Q: What physical traits are Homo longi different from Homo sapiens?
A: It has larger eye sockets, thicker ridges around the brow area, a wider mouth, and bigger teeth

Q: What is Homo sapiens?
A: Modern humans

Q: What are the Neanderthals?
A: They represent a separate lineage of human evolution that went extinct

Q: What significance does the discovery of Homo longi bring about our understanding of the human evolution?
A: Homo longi may be more closely related to modern humans and therefore pushes back the timeline of a common ancestral archaic human

Q: What conflicting hypothesis in regards to the discovery of Homo longi exist?
A: Some scientists believe the newly discovered human fossil belongs to the group called Denisovans

Q: Where and when was Denisovan first discovered?
A: Siberia, Russia, 2010

Q: What is the approximate fossil age of the Homo longi skull?
A: 146,000 years old