Denisovan

Denisova Cave
Location of Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains of Siberia

The Denisovans or Denisova hominins are archaic humans in the genus Homo. They are extinct. They are either a species or a subspecies.

Discovery

They were first discovered in March 2010 in the Denisova Cave in Siberia's Altai Mountains. Neanderthals and modern humans also lived in this cave at different times.[1][2][3]

A finger bone fragment of a juvenile female was discovered. She lived about 41,000 years ago. She had about 3% to 5% of the DNA of Melanesians and Aboriginal Australians, and around 6% in Papuans deriving from Denisovans.[4][5][6]

DNA analysis

The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of the finger bone showed it was genetically distinct from Neanderthals and modern humans. The nuclear genome from this specimen suggested that Denisovans shared a common origin with Neanderthals.[7]

DNA analysis has indicated that modern humans, Neanderthals, and the Denisova hominin last shared a common ancestor around 1 million years ago.[8]

The mtDNA analysis also suggested that this species migrated out of Africa between a migration by Homo erectus individuals and later ones by some ancestors of most modern humans.[8]

Fossils

Through DNA analysis, scientists have identified the fossils of four distinct Denisovans from Denisova Cave:[9]

  • Denisova 2, a young female
  • Denisova 3, another young female
  • Denisova 4, an adult male
  • Denisova 8, another adult male

Anatomy

So far, a finger bone, a toe bone and two teeth are the only Denisovan body parts that have been found and securely identified.  The finger bone is from a woman.  It is broader than a human finger.  This fact suggests that Denisovans were more robust than any modern humans.


In 2025, two head bones found in east Asia were identified as probably being Denisovan, based on protein and DNA analysis. One is a mandible (jaw bone) found off the coast of Taiwan.[10] The other is a skull, the "Dragon Man," (Homo longi) from Harbin, China. [11]

Based on the Dragon Man skull, Denisovans had a "prominent brow ridge with a brain as large as modern humans and Neanderthals . . . ." [12]

Mitochondrial DNA analysis

The mtDNA from the finger bone differs from that of modern humans by 385 nucleotides in the mtDNA strand out of approximately 16,500. This is more than the difference between modern humans and Neanderthals, which is around 202 bases.[3]

References

  1. ↑ David Leveille (2012). "Scientists map an extinct Denisovan girl's genome". The World. PRI. Archived from the original on 24 July 2013. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  2. ↑ Brown, David (2010), "DNA from bone shows new human forerunner, and raises array of questions", Washington Post
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Krause, Johannes; et al. (2010), "The complete mitochondrial DNA genome of an unknown hominin from southern Siberia", Nature, 464 (7290): 894–97, Bibcode:2010Natur.464..894K, doi:10.1038/nature08976, PMC 10152974, PMID 20336068, S2CID 4415601
  4. ↑ "Callaway, Ewen (2011). "First Aboriginal genome sequenced". Nature. doi:10.1038/news.2011.551.
  5. ↑ "About 3% to 5% of the DNA of people from Melanesia (islands in the south-west Pacific Ocean), Australia, New Guinea and aboriginal people from the Philippines comes from the Denisovans". Oldest human DNA found in Spain – Elizabeth Landau's interview of Svante Paabo
  6. ↑ Harmon, Katherine (2012). "Humans interbred with Denisovans". Scientific American. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
  7. ↑ Carl Zimmer (22 December 2010). "Denisovans Were Neanderthals' Cousins, DNA Analysis Reveals". NYTimes.com. Retrieved 22 December 2010..
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Katsnelson, Alla 2010. New hominin found via mtDNA. The Scientist (24.03.10)
  9. ↑ Slon, Viviane et al 2017. A fourth Denisovan individual. Science Advances 3 (7): e1700186. doi:10.1126/sciadv.1700186. PMC 5501502. PMID 28695206.
  10. ↑ Hunt, Katie (2025-04-10). "Jawbone dredged up from the seafloor expands the range of a mysterious species of ancient human". CNN. Retrieved 2025-06-21.
  11. ↑ Hunt, Katie (2025-06-18). "'Dragon Man' DNA revelation puts a face to a mysterious group of ancient humans". CNN. Retrieved 2025-06-21.
  12. ↑ magazine, Dyani Lewis, Nature. "First Near-Complete Denisovan Skull Reveals What This Ancient Human Cousin Looked Like". Scientific American. Retrieved 2025-06-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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