Major paper in Nature this week summarizing what we have learned about ancient Denisovans from a pathetic pile of fossils and extensive genetic research. (NY Times; good summary article about Denisovans at Britannica)
The first discoveries, made at Denisova Cave in Siberia, showed that Denisovans had been around from, at minimum, 150,000 to 75,000 years ago; that they interbred with Neanderthals; and that some of their genes seemed to be present in modern East Asian humans. Other likely Denisovan bone fragments have now been found in Tibet and Laos.
More recent genetic studies suggest further intermixing with modern humans in Southeast Asia, perhaps as recently as 25,000 years ago. The Denisovan signature seems to be particularly strong in some groups in New Guinea and the Philippines. This may mean that they were able to thrive in both Siberia and tropical southeast Asia, giving them one over Neanderthals, who have not been found outside Ice Age climes.
I caution that all of this is very new and rather speculative; I am especially skeptical of DNA found in soil rather than bones. But it truly is remarkable that modern genetics has allowed us to conjure up a lost branch of humanity from a few shards of bone.
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