What did the Denisovans look like? How did they go extinct? Full guide to the ancient humans
In short: not even scientists are sure. In a bit longer: the Denisovans are an extinct relation to modern humans who lived in Siberia and East Asia. Some experts have argued that Denisovans are an entirely new species of our genus, Homo, but others think that they are merely eastern Neanderthals.
Unfortunately, it is hard to know the exact time period that they walked our planet as very few Denisovan fossils have been discovered. However, the fossils we do have indicate they inhabited southern Siberia’s Denisova Cave (hence ‘Denisovans’) 50,000 to 200,000 years ago. Plus, a Denisovan partial mandible discovered in a cave in the Tibetan Plateau indicates that they could be found in the region over 160,000 years ago at least.
These findings suggest Denisovans were the contemporaries of Neanderthals and even Homo sapiens (who first emerged about 300,000 years ago). In fact, DNA evidence suggests Neanderthals and Denisovans both lived in Denisova Cave, although probably not at the same time.
Denisovans were the first group of humans to be discovered based on their DNA alone. However, this was largely by accident. In 2010, German geneticist Prof Johannes Krause (then a PhD student) was extracting mitochondrial DNA from what he thought was a Neanderthal finger bone found in Denisova cave. It wasn’t Neanderthal. Krause had instead stumbled upon a new lineage, the Denisovans.
