Denny (Denisova 11)
- Date
- c. 2018 · confidence low
- Place
- Denisova Cave, Altai, Russia
- Credited to
- Svante Pääbo y Viviane Slon
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
Bone fragment of a young hybrid with a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father, found in Denisova Cave and identified through mitochondrial DNA by Svante Pääbo's team; the only known first-generation hybrid between human species.
What it led to
- First direct proof of interbreeding between Neanderthals and Denisovans
- Boost to bone-fragment identification techniques via proteomics (ZooMS)
- Revision of the relationships between archaic human species