Denisovans
A look at the Maba hominin skull
Found in 1958, the skull is one of a handful of fossil hominins from southern China that may be connected with the Denisovans.
Top 10 discoveries about ancient people from DNA in 2024
New resolution is emerging of some events in ancient human populations, and a clearer view of some parts of the genome.
Julurens: a new cousin for Denisovans and Neanderthals
A new study suggests that the Middle Pleistocene record in China includes more groups than have previously been recognized.
Top 10 discoveries about ancient people from DNA in 2023
This year's highlights include ways of finding ancient relatives, how some phenotypes evolved in ancient people, and trace evidence from artifacts.
Tracing the signature of African-to-Neandertal gene flow
A new study of African genetic variation yields a more accurate picture of the genetic exchanges between ancient Africans and Neandertals 250,000 years ago.
Interaction and mixture: big picture and small
From the level of function of a single gene up to the movements of entire populations, our evolution was built from mixture.
When did human chromosome 2 fuse?
More and more, it looks like this event happened shortly before a million years ago, in the common ancestors of Neandertal, Denisovan, and African ancestral humans.
Climate models, Neandertals, and Denisovans
A new paper on biogeography of Neandertals and Denisovans raises ideas about the interactions of these groups.
Explaining the X chromosome hole in Neandertal ancestry
Natural selection reduced the variation on human X chromosomes in populations with the most Neandertal and Denisovan mixture. It may have been meiotic drive.
Solving the mystery of the Red Deer Cave people
New DNA evidence is revealing the genetic relationships of ancient groups from southern China, showing how they were connected to living people across the region.
An enormous sample sheds light on the Denisovan ancestry of people in Iceland
Laurent Skov and coworkers have measured the very small amount of DNA shared within the Iceland population from Denisovan ancestry and they discuss several scenarios for how it may have gotten there.
Part of a Denisovan mtDNA resides in the nuclear genomes of many living people
A paper last week by Robert Bücking and coworkers trawled through the recently-sequenced Indonesian Genome Diversity Project dataset looking for snippets of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) that have been inserted into the nuclear genome. These snippets, called “NUMTs”, arise every so often as a result of DNA transfer from the mitochondrion
Denisovan traits bring up the old problem of understanding morphological continuity
A paper by Shara Bailey and coworkers suggests that three-rooted lower molars are diagnostic of population mixture from Denisovans.
How will ancient proteins change paleoanthropology?
Paleoproteomic methods may provide exciting avenues toward understanding pieces of fossils and their relationships.
Homo luzonensis: a new species of hominin from Luzon
I reflect on the discovery from Callao Cave, Philippines, which reinforces the ability of ancient hominins to disperse across island Southeast Asia.
Lecture: Who were the ancestors of the Neandertals?
Looking at what we know about Neandertal origins and how our understanding has changed in the last decade.
How collagen fingerprinting is changing the way archaeologists understand ancient sites
Katarina Douka and coworkers are identifying the species of ancient bone fragments at a massive scale from Denisova Cave.
Should we be surprised if Neandertals, Denisovans, and modern humans didn’t form stable hybrid zones?
A geneticist asks why we don't see more persisting hybrid populations, and I find an answer in the theory of population source-sink dynamics.
Another Denisovan from Denisova Cave
A review of the 2015 work identifying the Denisova 8 specimen by Susanna Sawyer and coworkers.
An ancient human pulled from the bottom of the Taiwan Strait
Work by Chun-Hsiang Chang and coworkers describes the partial mandible, which may represent an archaic human related to the Denisovans.
The FoxP2 protein sequence from Neandertals and Denisovans is shared by many people today
A study of sequence variation shows a possible selected change among living people, but many still have a form shared with Neandertals and Denisovans.
New findings from the Denisova 3 genome at high coverage
Sequencing work by Matthias Meyer and coworkers highlights the demography of ancient Denisovans and genes that may make today's people different from them.
A mysterious mitochondrial sequence from Denisova Cave, Russia
A small fragment of finger bone with a DNA sequence that represents a previously-unknown form of hominin.
