In the Caretaker Trilogy, I have played with the conceit that the dwarves and trolls of world mythology are hominins from a parallel human lineage: Neanderthals, Denisovan hominins, etc. I’ve previously commented on how the prehistoric world has taken on a decidedly “Tolkienesque” tone in recent research. If anything, things are getting even more complex.

So I’ve been excited to learn that a recent scientific study has identified DNA from the Chinese Harbin skull, generally dubbed Homo longi or “Dragon Man” (from the Dragon River where it was found), as a Denisovan. Here is a nice, accessible summary:

What this means is that the Denisovans, formerly only known from a mandible, a finger bone, and a few other tiny fragments, now has a more or less complete skull and even a face.

I have always been careful in my behind-the-scenes resource documents to describe dwarves and trolls as “derived” species or “chronospecies”—not exactly what anthropologists are digging up from the earth, but close enough that I can draw on scientific findings to add flavor and detail. And now I’m glad I did, because this new finding doesn’t introduce any scientific gaffes into the Caretaker Trilogy. Nothing I have written about the physical appearance of trolls, the kindred that I’m basing on Denisovans, is suddenly flatly wrong because of the new information.

This is fascinating! And it doesn’t make me look uninformed to readers in the future! (Yes, I know, that’s an awfully selfish take on this major advance in the understanding of human evolution. But it is what it is.)

Anyway, you can read more about trolls and their cousins in Dead of Night, the second book in the Caretaker Trilogy, which is soon to be released.

The night gets darker on July 1.

PS: Isn’t “Dragon Man” a cool name?