Scientists have reconstructed the face of a long-lost human ancestor who may have played a pivotal role in our evolution.
They used the Harbin skull, also known as ‘Dragon Man’, which is a nearly complete 150,000-year-old human skull discovered in China in 1933.
Paleoartist John Gurche used fossils and genetic data from extinct species to recreate plastic replicas of the remains.
He estimated the ancient hominid’s facial features using the relationship between eye size and socket shared by African apes and modern humans, and by measuring aspects of the skull’s bone structure to determine the shape and size of the nose.
Gurche then superimposed muscle on the face following marks on the skull left by chewing, revealing the first true look at an “unknown human.”
The species, called ‘Denisovans’ after the cave in which some of their remains were found, lived between 200,000 and 25,000 years ago.
Their fossil and DNA records show that they lived on the Tibetan plateau, but they traveled far and wide, with traces of their presence found in Southeast Asia, Siberia and Oceania.
Scientists first sequenced their genetic code in 2010 using a 60,000-year-old finger bone recovered from Denisova Cave in Siberia, finding Denisovan DNA in modern humans around the world and particularly in populations in Papua New Guinea.
Scientists have reconstructed the face of a long-lost human ancestor who may have played a pivotal role in our evolution.
This is strong evidence suggesting that Denisovans interbred with Homo sapiens before they disappeared. Along with Neanderthals, these ancient humans are our closest extinct relatives.
Researchers believe this interbreeding helped Homo sapiens adapt to new environments as it expanded its range around the world, and therefore played an important role in our evolutionary history.
Despite a wave of research over the past two decades, much is still unknown about these early humans, as their fossil record is incredibly sparse compared to that of Neanderthals.
But thanks to a skull that was hidden in northeast China for more than 80 years, we can now see what our Denisovan ancestors were really like.
The skull was found by a worker in Harbin, China, in 1933. While similar in size to the modern human skull, it has a wider mouth and a more prominent forehead.
Upon discovering the remarkably complete 150,000-year-old fossil, he hid it inside a pit where it remained for the rest of the 20th century.
In 2018, the skull resurfaced when the Chinese worker told his grandson about it shortly before he died.
Today, this fossil is known as the Harbin skull.
But there is a strong possibility that the Harbin skull is Denisovan, the researchers say. A paleoartist used a plastic replica of this skull to begin reconstructing the Denisovan face.
The main evidence supporting the Denisovan lineage of the Harbin skull is the morphological similarity between it and a jaw found in Xiahe Cave on the Tibetan Plateau in 1980.
Gurche used this skull to create a realistic reconstruction of the Denisovan face.
Paleoartists use fossils and genetic data to determine what ancient species looked like when they were alive and then create models or illustrations of what they looked like.
Gurche is famous for his hyper-realistic sculptures. His goal is always to get as close as possible to “looking into the eyes of these extinct species,” he told National Geographic.
He used a plastic replica of the Harbin skull, commissioned by National Geographic, to begin making his Denisovan model.
Gurche then estimated the size of the Denisovan’s eyes using comparative anatomy, which is the process of comparing and contrasting the anatomy of different species.
He knew that African apes and humans share a similar ratio of eyeball diameter to eye socket size, so he used this ratio to sculpt the eyes.
As for the nose, Gurche carefully studied and measured the bone structure of Harbin’s skull to infer how wide the nasal cartilage might have been and how far the nose protruded from the face.
Many other fossils of the Denisovan lineage have been recovered around the world, including this molar found in Laos. But compared to Neanderthals, the Denisova fossil record is sparse.
All human skulls have markings indicating the position of the chewing muscles on the sides of the head, so he used these in addition to other measurements indicating their thickness to construct the shape of the Denisovan face.
Denisova’s facial reconstruction appears on the February 2025 National Geographic cover
The end result is a realistic, science-backed depiction of this ancient human’s appearance, offering the most realistic look at our Denisovans’ ancestors to date.
For more information on this story, visit Natgeo.com.
Today, the lineage of the Harbin skull is still debated as there is no definitive genetic evidence confirming which species it belongs to.
But experts believe there is a strong possibility that the skull is Denisovan.
The main evidence supporting this is the morphological similarity between the Harbin skull and a jaw found in Xiahe Cave on the Tibetan Plateau in 1980.
Although the 160,000-year-old jaw found 45 years ago contained no viable traces of genetic material, scientists were able to identify its lineage in 2016 using a new technique that indirectly analyzes a fossil’s DNA through its longest-lived proteins.
Unraveling exactly how the Denisovans were able to travel thousands of miles around the world and why they disappeared will require more fossils.
That analysis revealed that the jaw was Denisovan, and its similarity to the Harbin skull suggests that the fossil probably is as well.
What’s more, the skull was found within the known geographic range of the Denisovans and dates to a similar age.
Based on this evidence, some experts believe that the Harbin skull is the most complete Denisovan fossil ever found.
Although this new look at Denisova’s face marks a major advance in scientists’ understanding of this extinct human species, to unravel exactly how they were able to travel thousands of miles around the world and why they disappeared, more fossils will be needed.