Denisova Cave

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Denisova Cave

cave, Russia

Also known as: Aju-Tasch

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Also known as:: Aju-Tasch

Related Topics:: human evolution; archaeology; fossil; Acheulean industry; Denisovan

Related Places:: Russia

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Denisova Cave, site of paleoanthropological excavations in the Anui River valley roughly 60 miles (100 km) south of Biysk in the Altai Mountains of Russia. The cave contains more than 20 layers of excavated artifacts, indicating occupation by hominins as long ago as 280,000 years before the present to as recently as the Middle Ages. Evidence of 13 separate occupations occurring between 125,000 and 30,000 years ago is supported by the presence of artifacts from the Acheulean, Mousterian, and Levalloisian stone-flaking industries. Researchers maintain that the cave was inhabited by early modern humans (Homo sapiens) and possibly Neanderthals (H. neanderthalensis) at different times. In addition, they have discovered evidence of occupation by a previously unknown group of hominins, dubbed the Denisovans, who were neither modern humans nor Neanderthals; for his pioneering work on these species, Swedish evolutionary geneticist Svante Pääbo received the 2022 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. The cave is known locally as Aju-Tasch, which means “bear rock” in Altay.

In 2010 a group of European and American scientists reported the sequencing of the complete mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genome obtained from a specimen found in the Denisova Cave in 2008. (Mitochondrial DNA is taken from the mitochondria rather than from the nuclei of extracted cells; it is frequently used to date biological specimens and calculate their genetic proximity to other specimens.) The specimen, a finger bone from what was believed to be a small child, was dated to between 30,000 and 48,000 years ago. Despite the specimen’s having been found in association with artifacts of the Mousterian Industry (that is, the tool-making culture traditionally associated with Neanderthals), its mtDNA showed nearly twice as many differences from modern human mtDNA than are shown in Neanderthal mtDNA. These findings indicated that the Denisovan lineage branched off from some common ancestor well before the lineage that includes Neanderthals and modern humans. The most recent common mtDNA that could have been shared by these two lineages would have occurred roughly one million years ago. Consequently, the researchers have suggested that Neanderthals, H. sapiens, and a third group of genetically distinct hominins (the Denisovans) inhabited the Altai region at the same time some 40,000 years ago.

In another study published the same year, genetic material extracted from the nuclei of cells taken from the same finger bone was used to sequence the Denisovan nuclear genome. Genetic analysis, which also included the examination of mtDNA, determined that the finger bone as well as a tooth excavated from the cave in 2000 belonged to two different, but genetically similar, individuals and that these individuals had significant genetic differences from Neanderthals and modern humans. (In addition, the tooth possessed structural features that did not occur in those species.) A comparison of the Denisovan nuclear genome with those of Neanderthals and modern humans suggested that possibly 4 to 6 percent of the material in the Denisovan genome also occurred in the genomes of modern humans from Melanesia. Such findings implied that the Denisovans appeared throughout large parts of Eurasia and that they interbred with early modern humans.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Michael Ray.

Denisovan

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Denisovan

hominin group

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Feb 7, 2025 • Article History

Related Topics:: human evolution; Pleistocene Epoch; fossil; Homo; hominin

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Denisovan, member of a group of archaic humans who emerged about 370,000 years ago during the Pleistocene Epoch in Eurasia, spreading throughout eastern and southern Asia and parts of Melanesia before disappearing sometime after about 30,000 years ago. The group is known from a handful of fossil finger bones and molars, a partial mandible, and other bone fragments found in several caves in Russia, China, and Laos. The Denisovans are named for the location where the first fossils were found, Denisova Cave (Aju-Tasch) in the Altai Mountains of Siberia. The first evidence of the Denisovans, DNA sequences taken from a single fossil finger bone discovered in 2008, were described in 2010; for his pioneering work in this area, Swedish evolutionary geneticist Svante Pääbo received the 2022 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Where the Denisovans fit into the taxonomy of human evolution and the genus Homo remains unclear. While some scholars have proposed the species names H. denisova or H. altaiensis for the group, the Denisovans’ origins, disappearance, and contributions to the development of human evolution and culture remain a matter of much curiosity and debate.

Researchers hypothesize that the group descended from a late-migrating lineage of H. erectus that traveled from Africa to Eurasia about 700,000 years ago. There is evidence that from this lineage came both the Denisovans and Neanderthals (H. neanderthalensis), who separated genetically and geographically from one another about 370,000 years ago. The Neanderthal branch migrated to Europe and western Asia, inhabiting the Atlantic regions of Europe eastward to the Altai Mountains, whereas the Denisovans moved eastward into East Asia and Southeast Asia, possibly as far as the Philippines and beyond the Wallace Line (the faunal boundary between Asia and Australia) to New Guinea. Several genetic studies note that Neanderthals and Denisovans interbred with one another as well as with early modern humans (H. sapiens), who migrated from Africa between 120,000 and 80,000 years ago.

Denisovan genomic material occurs in relatively large amounts in samples taken from modern human populations from Oceania, including Papua New Guinea and Australia. Neanderthal DNA occurs at higher frequencies in Eurasia. A comparison of the Denisovan nuclear genome with those of Neanderthals and modern humans suggested that possibly 4 to 6 percent of the material in the Denisovan genome also occurred in the genomes of modern humans from Melanesia. Such findings implied that the Denisovans appeared throughout large parts of Eurasia and that they interbred with early modern humans. Many researchers suggest that Denisovan populations disappeared from the Asian mainland as H. sapiens moved in, leaving only small populations of Denisovans on remote islands in the western Pacific. The discovery of Denisovan DNA in modern human populations in New Guinea and other remote islands suggests that, given the geography of the Pleistocene, the Denisovans were capable of seafaring, and researchers note that they interbred with later-arriving H. sapiens, which has carried their genetic legacy to modern times.