Harbin Fossil Belongs to Denisovan Population, Two New Studies Suggest
The famous “Cranium Harbin” dates back at least 146,000 years and was previously assigned to a new species, Homo Longi.
A reconstruction of the individual Harbin in his habitat. Image credit: Chuang Zhao.
The Cranium Harbin was discovered in 1933 when a bridge was built on the Songhua river in the city of Harbin, the province of Heilongjiang, China.
Due to its non -systematic recovery and the long time interval, information on the exact site and the fossil layer has been lost.
The fossil is massive, larger than all other archaic humans. It is also relatively long and weak and does not have the globularity of the modern human puzzle.
It has larger, almost square orbits, thick eyebrow ridges, a wide mouth and oversized teeth.
The endocranial capacity of the skull is estimated at 1,420 ml, falling in the order of Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, and larger than before Homo species.
Also known as the “Man Dragon” fossil, the specimen probably represents a man under the age of 50.
In new research, Dr qiaomiei fu of the Institute of Paleontology of Vertebrates and Paleoanthropology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Colleagues carried out a paleoproteomic analysis of the fossil and its dental calculation.
They have identified more than 308,000 peptides, more than 20,000 peptides and confirmed 95 endogenous proteins.
They also discovered 122 polymorphisms of unique amino acids (SAPS) to hominids, confirming the classification of Harbin’s individual in the Homo gender.
In particular, they identified three variants specific to Denisovans, establishing a phylogenetic link between the Harbin and Denisova 3 fossil, a small fragment of a bone from the Denisova cave.
“Before this discovery, Denisovan’s fossils were limited and fragmentary, complicating our understanding of their morphology and their evolutionary history,” said the rebts.
“The Harbin fossil, identified as a new species, Homo LongiSharing of important morphological similarities with the remains of Denisovan found in other places. »»
The portrait of the individual Harbin. Image credit: Cicero Moraes, DOI: 10.6084 / M9.Figshare.24648591.
Scientists also managed to recover mitochondrial DNA (DNA) from the dental calculation of the fossil.
Their results have confirmed that the individual Harbin belongs to a line of early Denisovans.
“DNA is in the variation in Denisovan DNA DNA and is linked to a DNA branch transported by the first of Denisovan in southern Siberia, previously observed in the Denisova cave,” said the authors.
“This suggests that Denisovans lived in a wide geographical range in Asia in the average Pleistocene.”
The observation that the Harbin skull contains DNA DNISOVAN links Denisovans to morphological features and will help to identify other specimens such as Denisovans, especially when old DNA is not kept or difficult to obtain.
For example, the fossils of Dali, Jinniushan and Hualongdong present morphological features similar to those of the Cranium Harbin, which makes it plausible that they also represent the populations of Denisovans.
“Denisovan’s DNA association with the Cranium Harbin allows a better understanding of morphological relations between Denisovans and other fossils of the average Pleistocene in Eastern Asia,” said the researchers.
“In addition, the recovery of host DNA from dental calculation opens up new genetic research possibilities on hominines of the medium pleistocene.”
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Qiaomei fu and al. The proteome of the individual of the Harbin of the late Middle Pleistocene. Sciencepublished online on June 18, 2025; DOI: 10.1126 / Science.adu9677
Qiaomei fu and al. Denisovan’s Mitochondrial DNA of dental calculation of the Cranium Harbin, 146,000 years old. Cellpublished online on June 18, 2025; DOI: 10.1016 / J.Cell.2025.05.040
