Re: Dragon Man skull identified as Denisovan by mitochondrial DNA from dental plague

On 6/23/2025 6:01 AM, Ernest Major wrote:

On 20/06/2025 19:46, RonO wrote:

https://www.science.org/content/article/dragon-man-skull-belongs- mysterious-human-relative
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Maybe the individual just ate Denisovans.
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Original news article from 2021.
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https://www.science.org/content/article/stunning-dragon-man-skull-may- be-elusive-denisovan-or-new-species-human
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The skull looks like a robust Neanderthal.  Sort of Homo erectus with a huge brain and a flatter face.
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Ron Okimoto
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 John Hawks has a short review of the subject.
 https://www.johnhawks.net/p/the-humanity-of-a-new-denisovan
 

Hawks brings up the peculiar nature of Denisovan mitochondrial DNA.  It may be that Denisovans got their mitochondrial DNA (maternally inherited) by interbreeding with Homo erectus individuals that inhabited Asia before the Neanderthal/Denisovan immigrants got there in their migration out of Africa around 800,000 years ago.
It may have been among the mitochondrial DNA genomes within that original Neanderthal/Denisovan African population, and it may have been lost from Neanderthals when they interbred with African modern humans around 250,000 years ago in a migration out of Africa that failed to establish a population of modern humans, but did result in Neanderthals adopting the modern human mito DNA that took over their population.  The reason to suspect introgression from Homo erectus for the Denisovan mito is due to the fact that Denisovans have evidence for interbreeding with a more ancient Homo in their genome.
This just means that the Denisovan mitochondral DNA may not be the original Denisovan mitochondrial DNA, and this fossil individual may not be a Denisovan, but what Homo erectus evolved into in Asia and it's population could be the source of the Denisovan mitochondrial DNA. Denisovans interbred with a more Ancient Homo and may have adopted the ancient Homo mitochodrial genome and lost what they originally had, like Neanderthals lost what they originally had when they interbred with modern humans 250,000 years ago.
Ron Okimoto