Denisovan fossils and tools unearthed in Chinese cave

Researchers have identified Denisovan remains and stone artefacts in Bianfu Cave, southwestern China, dating back 167,000–134,000 years. The find, described in two Nature papers, provides the first solid fossil evidence that Denisovans lived in the region, offering clues about their appearance, behaviour, and environment.

Bottom line — Per Nature, 7 hominin bones among 60,000 fragments confirm Denisovan presence in eastern Asia.

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• Proteomic analysis revealed a distinct Denisovan amino acid variant in the remains, per Nature.
• The cave yielded over 1,300 stone artefacts spanning 190,000 to 70,000 years ago, according to Fahu Chen and colleagues.
• Animal and pollen evidence suggests Denisovans hunted medium-to-large prey in a conifer forest, the authors report.
• Simple bone tools found resemble Neanderthal technology, indicating shared behaviours, per Nature.
• Genomic data had predicted Denisovan ancestry in present-day Southeast Asian and Oceanian populations, but fossil evidence was scarce until now, Nature notes.
• The arm bone fragment is more like that of modern humans than Neanderthals in shape, according to the papers.

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