| "Homo denisovan(?)" Temporal range: Pleistocene (Lower Paleolithic) | |
|---|---|
| |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Suborder: | Haplorhini |
| Family: | Hominidae |
| Genus: | Homo |
| Species: | †Homo denisovan(?) |
The Denisovans were a species or subspecies of archaic human that lived during the mid to late Pleistocene. First discovered in 2010 in a cave in the Altai mountains of Russia. They appeared around 300 000 years ago.[1] Using only a few bones, the DNA sequence was surprising in that it did not match any other known hominid, and genetic analysis indicates the last common ancestor for the Denisovans and the branch that led to Neanderthals and Modern humans was around 765 000 years ago.[2]
Their name currently is either Homo altai, Homo sapiens altai, Homo denisovan, or Homo sapiens denisovan.
Their morphology is mostly unknown, though it is inferred that they looked similar to Neanderthals or possibly Homo erectus, and had very large teeth. It is known that they intermarried into the East Asians, Aborigines, and Melanesians during the later Pleistocene. They vanished around 60-40,000 years ago. They lived in varied climates ranging from high altitudes to humid tropics.[3]
In 2025 the Dragon Man skull was identified as Denisovan.[4]
Gallery[]
- ↑ https://australian.museum/learn/science/human-evolution/the-denisovans/
- ↑ https://www.livescience.com/denisovans-extinct-human-relative
- ↑ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/denisovan-fossil-shows-enigmatic-hominins-lived-from-siberia-to-subtropics/
- ↑ https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/146-000-year-old-dragon-man-skull-confirmed-as-denisovan-through-dental-dna?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us