John Hawks

John Hawks

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Denisovans

Rock art may be far older than modern humans in Sulawesi
Dating of a panel with two handprints puts their production sometime before 68,000 years ago.
 • John Hawks
A deep record of unknown hominins from Sulawesi
A cave known as Leang Bulu Bettue provides a record from the Middle Pleistocene across the arrival of modern people.
 • John Hawks
Fossils from the Grotte à Hominidés, Morocco, and crossroads of human evolution
Jaws, teeth, and a hyena-chewed femur may be close to the common ancestor of Neanderthals, Denisovans, and modern people.
 • John Hawks
A possible archaic human from Borneo
The find of a single tooth from Gua Danang may be the first evidence of the archaic inhabitants of the island.
 • John Hawks
Top 10 discoveries about ancient people from DNA in 2025
In a year full of Denisovan discoveries, I look at some of the top highlights of research.
 • John Hawks
Deep history from the genomes of India
People carrying Neanderthal mixture entered the subcontinent after 50,000 years ago, meeting Denisovans
 • John Hawks
The problem skulls from Yunxian
The relationships of fossils from deep time in China may help reveal ancestral connections for the Denisovans
 • John Hawks
A shorter, sharper Out-of-Africa story is emerging
A new study of genomic ancestry in Papua New Guinea supports a short timeline for the dispersal of modern people
 • John Hawks
The gene from Denisovan to Neanderthal to modern mucus
A “genetic sandwich” reveals how a block of DNA entered several populations successively and was affected by natural selection.
 • John Hawks
Denisovan HLA and its role in immunity
Today's people have inherited several immune alleles from archaic people. Understanding what difference they made is a continuing challenge.
 • John Hawks
The humanity of a new Denisovan
Identification of the Harbin skull by mtDNA and proteins and what it means to be Homo sapiens.
 • John Hawks
Ghost populations in human origins
Genetic models are finding more and more unknown lineages. How real are they?
 • John Hawks
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