Definition
Denisovans are an archaic Asian hominin population identified primarily through ancient DNA, not bones. The defining specimen is a tiny finger bone fragment (Denisova 3) from Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains of Siberia, sequenced in 2010 by the Pääbo lab. The genome turned out to belong to a sister lineage of Neanderthals, distinct from both Neanderthals and modern humans, that had diverged hundreds of thousands of years earlier.
The physical morphology of Denisovans is barely known. Additional Denisovan material includes several teeth and a jaw fragment (the Xiahe mandible from Tibet). Most of what we know about them comes from their genome rather than their bones — a striking inversion of the usual paleoanthropological order.
Why it matters
Where they show up
The original Denisova 3 finger bone came from layer 11 of the East Gallery at Denisova Cave, dated to roughly 50,000 to 80,000 years ago. Subsequent sequencing of teeth from the same site has revealed additional Denisovan individuals spanning over 100,000 years of cave use. The Xiahe mandible from Baishiya Karst Cave in Tibet, dated to at least 160,000 years ago, extends the geographic range significantly.
Population genetic analyses of present-day humans reveal multiple Denisovan-like ancestries in different Asian populations, suggesting multiple distinct Denisovan groups interbred with modern humans at different times and places. The full geographic and temporal extent of Denisovans remains largely unknown.