Chapter 15 - The Denisovans

Abstract

Homo habilis, H. erectus, and H. heidelbergensis were presumably the first to leave Africa, with the European form of H. heidelbergensis later evolving into H. neanderthalensis in Europe and Denisovans in Northern Asia. The Denisovans are an extinct species or subspecies of human that ranged across Asia during the Lower and Middle Paleolithic. Denisovans are known from only a few fossil remains (small bone fragments, a few teeth, and one finger bone), so most of what is known about them comes from DNA evidence. Genetic evidence suggested that Denisovans split from the modern human lineage about 800kya and from Neanderthals around 600kya. Geneticists also concluded that Denisovans were more closely related to Neanderthals than modern humans based on genomic DNA sequencing. Further, genomic sequences indicated that modern humans, Neanderthals, and Denisovans shared a common ancestor, most likely H. heidelbergensis.