Ancient DNA Confirms 146,000-Year-Old ‘Dragon Man’ Was a Denisovan

A skull that became entombed some 146,000 years ago has just been identified by its DNA as belonging to a human being. The skull was discovered in Harbin, China, in 1933 and was buried in a well for many years. Researchers who have identified the genetic traces of the Dragon Man fossil have uncovered evidence that they come from a group of early humans that had previously been virtually unknown to science: the Denisovans. In this blog, you can look at how researchers find ancient DNA, the information they’ve gleaned from Denisovan DNA, and how the same science falls into […]