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Science Marches On—But It Didn’t Step on Me (Yet)
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?
The Prehistoric World Is Moving into D&D 5e Territory
I have previously opined that the prehistoric world was somewhat “Tolkienesque,” with multiple humanoid species interacting with each other in a variety of ways. In a recent Discover article, Bridget Alex surveys how things have changed even in recent years.
When I first wrote about extinct hominins and fantasy fiction, the newly discovered “hobbit” (Homo floresiensis) was all the rage. The very next year saw the discovery of H. naledi in South Africa, and an article published just this year concludes that remains found in the Philippines come from an otherwise unknown species dubbed H. luzonensis.
If we can assume some late surviving members of H. erectus on the margins (they were contemporary with us but geographically separated), that brings us to seven hominin species fighting, trading, and in at least some instances interbreeding with each other from roughly 300,000 to 30,000 years ago.
So it’s no longer just humans, elves, dwarves, and halflings. Now we’ve got to add gnomes, orcs, and…I don’t know, tieflings?—with no guarantees somebody won’t find yet another extinct hominin species tomorrow.
The prehistoric world is quickly gaining the appearance of a D&D campaign with no restrictions on character race.
The Prehistoric World Was Rather Tolkienesque
Fifty thousand years ago or so, there were multiple species of humanoids on planet Earth. There were, of course, biologically modern humans: good old fashioned Homo sapiens sapiens. There were also, we now know, Neanderthals in northern Europe, Denisovans from Siberia to southeast Asia, and, most recently, the “hobbits” (Homo floresiensis) of the island of Flores in Indonesia. Sometimes these various groups traded with one another. Sometimes they fought one another. Occasionally—and the genetic evidence for this continues to mount—at least some of them *ahem* socialized with one another and produced viable offspring.
Some of this complexity is captured in a number of fascinating articles that have appeared recently at io9:
- How Did Neanderthal Genes Affect Humanity? Here Are Some Answers
- A Long Anthropological Debate May B on the Cusp of Resolution
- New Evidence Points to the Flores “Hobbit” as a Dwarf Species
I think the makings are there for a really interesting way to understand and depict the various races one encounters in fantasy fiction. How do these races differ from one another physiologically? What strengths and weaknesses do each possess? In fact, that is exactly how I went about fleshing out the various inhabitants of the Wonder: the true fae, dwarves, trolls, and little folk such as the yunwi tsunsdi.
For cultural/ethical characteristics and magical capabilities, I of course leaned heavily on mythology and folklore. I’m not trying to “explain” dwarves and the rest in anything like a scientific way, after all. But when looking for a bit of extra color, I was very happy to see what paleoanthropologists could tell me about some of humanity’s nearest kin.
Darrell J. Pursiful 