Denisovans: a human lineage discovered from DNA
Denisovanos: una especie humana descubierta por su ADN
- Date
- 2010 · confidence high
- Place
- Denisova Cave, Altai, Russia
- Credited to
- Svante Pääbo, Johannes Krause (Max Planck Institute); Anatoly Derevianko
- People
- 👤 Johannes Krause1980–👤 Svante Pääbo1955–
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
The DNA from a 40,000-year-old finger bone fragment of a girl revealed an unknown human lineage, sister to the Neanderthals, that interbred with the ancestors of Melanesians and Tibetans. It was the first human species identified from its genome before its anatomy.
Coordinates of the cave. Tibetan adaptation to altitude (the EPAS1 gene) comes from the Denisovans.
What it led to
- Palaeogenomics as a tool of discovery
- Proof of interbreeding between human species (Nobel Prize to Pääbo, 2022)
- Discovery of the Xiahe jawbone (Tibet) and of Homo longi
Built on
- Neanderthal genome (2010)
- Russian excavations at Denisova since 1977
Made possible
- Penghu 1 mandible, a Denisovan from Taiwan2025
- High-coverage ancient DNA sequencing
- Sediment DNA