The Harbin cranium is a nearly complete skull of an ancient human found in sediments near the Songhua River on the Northeast China Plain. It is about 146,000 to 309,000 years old. Scientists described it in 2021 and controversially classified it as the holotype of a new human species, Homo longi ("Dragon Man"), named after the Chinese province of Heilongjiang. This province’s name means "black dragon river" and refers to the Amur River, of which the Songhua River is a tributary. Initially, the Harbin cranium was thought to belong to the same species as the Denisovans. Later tests on proteins and DNA confirmed its close relationship to Denisovans.
The Harbin cranium shares many physical features with other Middle Pleistocene human fossils found in China. Its skull is long and low, with large brow ridges, wide eye sockets, and a big mouth. It is the longest skull ever discovered from any human species. Its face is flat, similar to modern humans and the earlier Homo antecessor, but with a larger nose. The brain size was about 1,420 cubic centimeters, which is within the range of modern humans and Neanderthals.
Taxonomy
In 1933, a local worker found a nearly complete skull near the Songhua River while building the Dongjiang Bridge in Harbin, which was then part of Manchukuo, a region controlled by Japan. He likely recognized the skull’s importance, possibly because people were interested in anthropology after the discovery of Peking Man in 1929. To protect it from Manchukuo authorities, he hid the skull in an abandoned well.
In 1945, after the Soviet Union ended Japan’s control of the region, the man avoided telling authorities about his past work for the Japanese railway. This made it hard for him to report the skull’s discovery, as doing so might have revealed his ties to Japan.
In 2018, the man’s third-generation family learned about the skull and took it back. Later that year, a Chinese paleoanthropologist named Ji Qiang asked the man’s grandson to donate the skull to Hebei GEO University for study. The skull’s catalog number is HBSM2018-000018(A).
However, some people have questioned whether the story about the skull’s discovery is true. A 2025 article suggested that Ji Qiang believed the skull was actually found by the grandson, not the grandfather, and that the grandfather failed to report it properly. Despite this, no one disputes that the skull originated in the Harbin area.
Because of the skull’s unclear history, its exact location and time period are difficult to determine. In 2021, Chinese geologist Shao Qingfeng and colleagues used non-destructive tests, such as x-ray fluorescence and strontium isotope analysis, on the skull and nearby fossils. They found that the fossils likely formed at the same time and came from the same area, possibly from the Upper Huangshan Formation, which dates to 309 to 138,000 years ago.
Uranium–thorium dating of the skull gave a wide range of dates, from 296,000 to 62,000 years ago. This variation is likely due to uranium leaching. Scientists estimated the most likely minimum age as 146,000 years, but the exact age remains uncertain because the skull’s origin is unclear. However, it is confidently placed in the late Middle Pleistocene, a time when other human remains in China, such as those from Xiahe, Jinniushan, Dali, and Hualong Cave, also existed.
A cladogram based on paleoproteomics shows the skull is related to Denisovans and a new species named Homo longi, also called “Dragon Man.” The name longi comes from the Chinese word for dragon, referencing Heilongjiang Province, where the fossil is said to have been found. Some scientists, like María Martinón-Torres, criticized the naming because the skull lacks clear context.
The Harbin skull is similar to the Dali skull, discovered in 1978 and initially named Homo sapiens daliensis. However, the name daliensis was later abandoned. If all Middle Pleistocene Asian humans were one species, H. daliensis might take priority. But researchers argue H. longi is distinct enough to be a separate species. In 2021, Chris Stringer suggested assigning the Harbin skull to H. daliensis, but later assessments found daliensis was not properly published, making H. longi the valid name.
Ji et al. (2021) noted the Harbin skull’s large molars suggest it may be related to the Xiahe mandible from Tibet, which is linked to Denisovans. The Xiahe mandible is also similar to fossils from Xujiayao and Penghu, with the Penghu mandible confirmed as Denisovan through proteomics. Researchers argue Middle Pleistocene Asian humans are more closely related to modern humans than Neanderthals, though genetic and protein data suggest Denisovans are closer to Neanderthals.
In 2025, Qiaomei Fu and colleagues analyzed DNA and proteins from the Harbin skull’s dental calculus, the first such study on a Paleolithic human fossil. The DNA and proteins matched early Denisovans from southern Siberia. However, some DNA was likely contaminated. After filtering out modern human DNA, the team found 27 gene variants unique to Denisovans, confirming the skull’s classification. Proteins also supported this. Xijun Ni raised concerns about contamination, but the study’s results remain valid.
Anatomy
The Harbin cranium has a long and low skull shape, a forehead that slopes back, a very wide upper face, and a large nasal opening that suggests a big nose (possibly to help with breathing in cold air). It also has large and square eye sockets, very thick and prominent brow ridges, flat cheekbones, a wide mouth area with large tooth sockets, and a broad base of the skull. The skull measures 221.3 mm × 164.1 mm (8.7 in × 6.5 in) in length and width, with a distance from the nose to the back of the skull of 212.9 mm (8.4 in). This makes it the longest archaic human skull found so far. In comparison, the average size of a modern human skull is about 176 mm × 145 mm (6.9 in × 5.7 in) for men and 171 mm × 140 mm (6.7 in × 5.5 in) for women. The Harbin cranium also has the longest brow ridge, measuring 145.7 mm (5.74 in).
The Harbin cranium had a very large brain, about 1,420 cubic centimeters, which is larger than most human species except modern humans and Neanderthals. However, the braincase has a narrowing just behind the eyes (a feature not seen in modern humans and linked to the frontal lobes), which is more developed than in Neanderthals but less than in older human species. The braincase shows many ancient traits, but the back of the skull has a weakly defined ridge that does not have a bump in the center, unlike most other ancient humans. Unlike the Dali and Hualong Cave skulls, the ridge does not cross the middle of the skull. Also, the top bones of the skull (parietal bones) do not expand outward, as they do in modern humans or Neanderthals.
Although the face is very wide, it is flat, similar to the faces of modern humans, the older H. antecessor, and other Middle Pleistocene Chinese fossils. However, the tooth sockets for the front teeth are angled outward. The Harbin cranium has a mix of ancient and modern traits, similar to some of the earliest H. sapiens fossils from Africa, such as those from Rabat and Eliye Springs. Scientists believe the Harbin cranium is closely related to the Xiahe mandible, but the lower jaw was not found, so it is unclear if it had a chin like modern humans. The only preserved tooth, an upper left second molar, is very large, measuring 13.6 mm × 16.6 mm (0.54 in × 0.65 in), similar to a Denisovan molar found in Denisova Cave. This tooth is oval-shaped, heavily worn, and nearly flat. In contrast, the average size of 40 modern human male molars is 10.2 mm × 11.8 mm (0.40 in × 0.46 in).
Ni and colleagues thought the Harbin cranium belonged to a male, based on the skull’s size and strength, and estimated the person was under 50 years old, judging by how the skull bones had fused and the wear on the teeth. They also suggested the individual may have had skin that was neither very dark nor very light, dark hair, and dark eyes, based on genetic data from Neanderthals, Denisovans, and early modern humans.
The left side of the skull has shallow dents near the top (around the bregma), possibly from a healed injury. The second upper left molar does not appear to have touched the third molar, which could mean the third molar was small (leaving a gap) or was missing in this individual.
Paleoenvironment
Sediments from the Middle-Late Pleistocene period near Harbin, where the skull is believed to have come from, contain the remains of many animals. These include the giant deer Sinomegaceros ordosianus, wild horse, elk/wapiti, the buffalo Bubalus wansijocki, brown bear, Eurasian beavers, the giant beaver Trogontherium, the antelope Procapra, marmots, tigers, cave lions, woolly mammoth, and woolly rhinoceros.