Why were Denisovans more advanced than Neanderthals? Neanderthals, Denisovans and other people

More than 20 archaeological cultural layers of the Denisova Cave keep the ancient history of North Asia - from the early Paleolithic to the Middle Ages

We drove for a long time, leaving hundreds of kilometers behind: an important archaeological site is far from large settlements and good roads. The last part of the path generally went along a mountain serpentine. But no matter how tired we were by the end of the journey, the incredible beauty of Altai - mountains, raging rivers and a huge sky - became our reward. And, of course, the air, which absorbed the smell of pine nuts, resin and honey. We overcame these distances in order to see with our own eyes a unique artifact - the most ancient bone needle, which was recently found in the Denisova Cave by scientists from the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and to ask the director of the institute, Doctor of Historical Sciences, about it. Mikhail Vasilyevich Shunkov.

Of course, the conversation was not limited to discussing an important discovery - people living in these parts think in other categories, they are not afraid to raise global questions and painstakingly, year after year, look for answers to them.

-Mikhail Vasilyevich, the reason for our visit was the most ancient needle, which everyone is talking about now.

The found needle is the oldest and largest product of its kind known in world archeology today. This find suggests that the culture of the ancient inhabitants of the Denisova Cave was at a fairly high level of development and was in no way inferior to the culture of Homo sapiens.

- And when was Denisova Cave discovered? And why exactly did it become the subject of archaeological research?

As an archaeological object, this cave was discovered in 1977, when academician Alexei Pavlovich Okladnikov sent a small detachment here. Of course, even before that the cave was known. It was even described by the artist N.K. Roerich, when he traveled in 1926 in Altai with his wife and son. But other expeditions of the late XIX - early XX centuries. visited this cave. Mostly scientists from Tomsk University worked here. After the formation of the first Siberian University, Altai began to be actively explored by geographers and geologists - V.V. Sapozhnikov, rector of Tomsk University, brothers B.V. and M.V. Tronovy. They studied Altai comprehensively, including caves. that is, it has been known in science for a long time.

It should be noted that caves are one of the most complex archaeological sites. In order to conduct research in them, a special approach is needed. In 1977 A.P. Okladnikov, the first director of our institute, organized a small expedition here led by paleontologist N.D. Ovodov. This is one of the oldest employees of our institute. He is now alive, healthy and productively working. Nikolai Dmitrievich laid two pits. And with one pit he passed all the deposits in the center of the cave. It turned out that the cave contains many cultural layers of primitive man of different eras. It became clear that a new, very interesting object was discovered. But it did not immediately become clear that this was serious, for a long time and required a lot of organizational work.

- That is, constant excavations did not begin immediately?

Systematic excavations began in 1982. First, under the guidance of Academician V.I. Molodin, the upper part of the cave deposits, the Holocene stratum, that is, those cultural layers that are not older than 10 thousand years, was opened. This is the area of ​​​​interest of Vyacheslav Ivanovich - the Middle Ages, the early Iron Age, the Bronze Age and the Neolithic. After that, excavations of the underlying horizons began, which are already older than 10 thousand years. And they are still going on. Our main attention is focused on the most ancient stage of human history - the Paleolithic era. Excavations have shown that the chronological period that we study in the cave is from 280 thousand to 10 thousand years.

- You said that there are other caves around. Why are the excavations concentrated here?

Denisova Cave is a unique object in Russian archeology; there is no other such object in Russia and in general on the territory of the entire post-Soviet space. Here cultures are collected in the interval from the early stage of the Middle Paleolithic to the Middle Ages. It is very important that on one monument, in one geological section, we can trace the evolution of cultures, the transition from one stage to another.

- What period are the finds associated with, which everyone calls sensational?

I do not like this word, but, probably, there is no other way to call them. These finds are associated with the transition from the Middle Paleolithic era, the Neanderthal era, to the Upper Paleolithic, which is traditionally associated with a human of modern anatomical appearance - Homo Sapiens. Excavations have been going on in Denisova Cave for more than 25 years. And the finds from the middle part of the cave section have always attracted the greatest interest. In our nomenclature, this is stratigraphic layer 11. This is a layer that characterizes a new stage in the history of mankind - the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. Archaeologists have always paid special attention to it, because it is a change of cultures. The formation of a person of modern physical appearance is connected with the culture of the initial stage of the Upper Paleolithic. It has always been believed that the Neanderthal was the bearer of the Mousterian (Middle Paleolithic) culture. Then came Homo Sapiens, brought a new culture of the Upper Paleolithic. And from that time began the history of a man of modern physical appearance. Man began not only to make tools from stone, but also to widely use bone. Burials, primitive art, rock art, etc. appeared.

- By the way, is there any rock art in Denisova Cave?

Unfortunately no. On the territory of Russia, only two caves are known in the Southern Urals - Kapova (Shulgan-Tash) and Ignatievskaya, where the picturesque activity of primitive man was discovered. Europeans traditionally believed that the center of the most ancient "civilization" was southwestern France and northern Spain, because rock art was discovered there, and this is the highest creative and intellectual achievement of primitive man. We have not found Paleolithic rock art in Altai, but the culture of the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic, embodied primarily in stone tools, is quite clearly represented not only in Denisova Cave, but also in open-type monuments found in the vicinity of Denisova Cave, in the valley of the Anui River . In addition to the cave, we are exploring other objects here, less known, but no less significant for us. Sets of stone tools were found there, which in their appearance are very close to the stone tools characteristic of the sites of Western Europe at the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. This is the so-called Aurignacian culture in Europe. Aurignacoid forms of tools were also found here, in Altai. An interesting problem arose - the correlation of our Siberian, Altai materials and Western European, as well as Paleolithic products from Western Asia and the Middle East. There are a lot of analogies and parallels in stone tools and various decorations.

- Do scientists still believe that Homo sapiens appeared in Africa and then began to populate Europe?

Homo Sapiens came to Europe from Africa, where it formed about 200 thousand years ago. In the chronological interval of 80-60 thousand years ago, it penetrated the Middle East, then began to populate Europe. He brought with him a new culture. But the place where this culture originated was not exactly established. Certain parallels were drawn with Western Asia, with Zagros, on the territory of Iraq and Iran. The most ancient tools of the Aurignacian type were found in the caves there. But then, in the course of our research, it turned out that the finds of the initial stage of the Upper Paleolithic from the Denisova Cave are not inferior in age to European ones, and may be older than European ones ... And then an intrigue arose: the cultural manifestations that we recorded in Altai date back to about 50 thousand years. This is almost 10 thousand years older than in Western Europe. Indeed, we have a peculiar culture, advanced in technological and cognitive terms. Various decorations made from animal teeth and ostrich egg shells were found. This material was imported to us from Mongolia or from Transbaikalia. This is also a characteristic feature of the behavior of a person of modern physical appearance. We could not have imagined that the findings of recent years would change this whole picture so much. In 2008, we discovered a phalanx of a girl's finger in Denisova Cave. Now she is widely known, even famous. The scientific director of our institute, Academician Anatoly Panteleevich Derevyanko, sent this phalanx to the famous paleogenetics professor Svante Paabo to the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig. And a very interesting result was obtained. First, it turned out that the anthropological remains from the Denisova Cave are exceptionally well preserved in paleogenetic terms. Secondly, the sequenced genome from this sample showed that it does not belong to a Neanderthal or Homo Sapiens, but to a completely new ancient population, previously unknown to science.

- Was it a shock?

Of course, shock, even shock. We could assume anything, but not that some special kind of hominin lived in our Altai. Or subspecies is a special question. Let anthropologists decide, we will listen to them carefully and draw our own conclusions. But the fact that this is a completely new, ancient population unknown to science has become obvious. And then a lot of things fell into place. As archaeologists we have seen that in its manifestations this culture must belong to Homo Sapiens.

- Do you mean any specific finds?

We then found a chloritolite bracelet. This is a rare stone, and not local. Its location was established - Rudny Altai, 250 km west of Denisova Cave. The stone is not only beautiful, it changes its color depending on the lighting. This is clearly an exclusive product that belonged to a person with a certain status in society. Trasological study showed that the decoration was composite, a hole was made in it. We assumed that a ring was attached to it on a leather strap. Two years later, our hypothesis was confirmed - we found a marble ring. But the most important thing is the technical methods that were used in the manufacture of these items. Pebbles were taken as a basis and polished. She was given a flat shape. Then a hole was drilled in the middle. Then it was expanded with a rasp-type tool. And an object was formed in the form of a ring or a bracelet. Then it was polished, etc. In combination, all these techniques used by ancient man have been known to science since the end of the Upper Paleolithic era - no older than 20 thousand years. And their mass use is already the Neolithic era, after 8 thousand years. The bracelet and ring were found in a layer older than 40,000 years. Now it is dated between 40 and 50 thousand years. At first we thought that this was the work of Homo Sapiens, who already had quite sophisticated technology. In addition, bone needles with an eye were found. And this year we found a needle about 8 cm long. It has no analogue. By its size, it is twice as large as similar items known not only in our country, but also on other sites of the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. It's not that we found the largest needle, but the use of advanced technology. I repeat: this man was not inferior in his skills to Homo Sapiens - that's what matters.

- But at the same time he was not Homo Sapiens?

It turned out that this is a completely new population, which, with the light hand of A.P. Derevyanko was named Homo sapiens altatensis (Altai reasonable man). Or at the place of discovery - a Denisovan man, a Denisovan. Just like the Neanderthal got its name from the Neanderthal valley. The name is quite firmly established in the scientific literature, and in the popular, and in the mass media. Now we already know for sure that the Denisovan man lived in the cave for quite a long time. We can say with absolute certainty that the culture of the Upper Paleolithic man was not brought to the south of Siberia from Africa, Europe or from other territories. It was formed on a local basis.

What is the importance of a single section - under layer 11 with the remains of the early Upper Paleolithic, where a bracelet, bone needles, various ornaments, Aurignacoid stone tools were found, there is a thickness of cultural layers of the Middle Paleolithic era. And we traditionally believed that they must belong to the Neanderthals. But now we know for sure that the Denisovan was the bearer of this Middle Paleolithic culture.

Back in the 80s. of the last century, a tooth from the lower cultural layer 22 of the early stage of the Middle Paleolithic was discovered in Denisova Cave. The anthropologists who worked with him, including our outstanding scientist Valery Pavlovich Alekseev, studied this tooth in detail, but could not unequivocally determine to whom it belonged. He combined the morphological features of both Homo Sapiens and Neanderthal. Paleogenetic analysis has now shown that this tooth belongs to a Denisovan. And the Denisovan has a very interesting morphology. Despite an advanced culture, in terms of physical anthropology, his remains are quite archaic and have common features with both Neanderthals and even older forms. We can say that here, in Altai, in Denisova Cave, for many tens of thousands of years, starting from the Middle Paleolithic, at least 280 thousand years, the evolution of the Denisovans and the gradual formation of the Upper Paleolithic culture took place. That is, it can be argued that Altai is one of the centers for the formation of the culture of a person of modern physical appearance.

- And where did the common features with Neanderthals come from?

Paleogenetic analysis has shown that the Denisovans were in close contact with the Neanderthals. Today in Altai, both in Denisova Cave, and in Okladnikova Cave, which is located 100 km to the north, and in Chagyrskaya Cave, which is located 200 km northwest of Denisova Cave, the remains of Neanderthals of the same period were found. This is the easternmost habitat of the Neanderthals. Paleogenetic analysis showed that Denisovans and Neanderthals entered into close relationships, there was an exchange of genetic material, the so-called inbreeding. Of course, the main role in the formation of a person of modern physical appearance belongs to the African Homo Sapiens. But now it is known for sure that the Eurasian modern population in its genome has from 2 to 4% of the Neanderthal genome, and the modern inhabitants of the Southern Hemisphere - the indigenous population of Australia, the islands of Melanesia and the Philippines - carry 3-6% of the Denisovan genome, that is, both Neanderthal and Denisovans contributed to the formation of a person of modern physical appearance. And many scientists say that if it were not for this inbreeding, modern humanity would have less strong immunity than it does now.

So natural selection has taken place?

This has played a role in human evolution. The history of the Neanderthals here is also very interesting. If the cultural, genetic and biological roots of the Denisovans have an autochthonous basis, then the Neanderthals in Altai were aliens. Most likely, they came here approximately 60-50 thousand years ago. Prior to this, the eastern border of the distribution of Neanderthals was Central Asia, the territory of modern Uzbekistan. This is evidenced, in particular, by the famous find of the late 1930s. young then researcher A.P. Okladnikov - the remains of the skeleton of a teenager in the Teshik-Tash cave. When Homo Sapiens explored the territory of Eurasia and advanced from the Middle East, it may have forced the Neanderthals out of the territory of the western part of Central Asia. And they migrated eastward to the Altai. Here they met with the local population - Denisovans.

- And who found this needle?

I am often asked this question. I'll tell you this: it would be wrong and unfair to single out a specific person. We know who found it - this is a wonderful specialist. But on the excavation site where this unprecedented find was made, two of our young researchers, two charming girls, were working. One of them found this needle. And to praise one at the expense of another is an ignoble deed. We have a large team, and this is the result of our common work.

- Now more about the needle itself, please.

Firstly, it demonstrates the rather high technological skills of the Denisovans, the bearers of this culture. Secondly, it testifies to the skills of sewing clothes and making shoes. It is most likely made from the bone of a large bird, the size of a swan, or perhaps from the so-called slate bone of the limb of ungulates. This will be shown by further laboratory studies of the find. Similar needles with an eye have been found in Denisova Cave and other sites in Europe. But this size, about 8 cm, was discovered for the first time. Now we can say that this is apparently the oldest such product known today in archeology. It was found in deposits about 50 thousand years old in complete safety and soundness. This is very important, since it testifies not only to the perfection of the methods of its manufacture, but also to a fairly high level of excavation technology that we are conducting in Denisova Cave and other Altai sites.

That is, the modern methodology of our excavations guarantees the maximum safety of ancient artifacts. In the laboratories of our institute, we will conduct a comprehensive study of the needle and other finds. Let's extract as much information as possible. At the end of the field season, Thomas Highem, head of the radiocarbon dating laboratory at Oxford University, came to us on the expedition. He took samples to determine a more accurate age of this find.

- What is the path of the found artifact from the cave to the laboratory?

Any find must undergo a thorough comprehensive analysis. All artifacts and bone remains found in the cultural layer of the cave are first fixed in place, photographed, described, put on the plan. Then all the exposed soil goes to the river bank, where it is washed. Then the washed substrate must be dried, sieved into fractions, sorted out the fine fraction, and the micromaterial should be extracted from it. Then all the material is sent for initial determination on the table to specialists. Many samples are specially packaged for further laboratory processing. We send them to many RAS institutes and leading foreign centers. At the same time, the location of any new find in the cave can be correlated with the finds of previous years. To do this, we have a 3D model of the cave, which was made by employees of the Institute of the History of Natural Science of the Russian Academy of Sciences under the guidance of the famous cosmonaut and writer Yu.M. Baturina

You obviously have to cooperate with a large number of specialists from various fields of knowledge.

Of course, we try to involve a variety of specialists and, what is important, we always find a response from them. The Institute of Nuclear Physics, the Institute of Geophysics, the Institute of Geology, the Institute of Cytology and Genetics work with archaeologists - these are the leading institutes of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. I do not want to say banal words, but really only an interdisciplinary approach gives serious scientific results.

- You are now the director of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the SB RAS. What tasks do you consider the most important?

Only a year ago I replaced A.P. Derevianko. Anatoly Panteleevich is the scientific director of our institute, the inspirer and organizer of all our scientific victories. We have a wonderful succession, talented young employees. We have a great shift. I talk about it with pleasure. The more we work in Denisova Cave and other archaeological sites, the more results we get, the more new tasks we face. They need to be solved at a qualitatively new scientific level. Our youth is capable of it. Therefore, our institute, our research has a future.

- Are you waiting for some more important finds in Denisova Cave?

We wait. When sequencing the Denisovan genome, our colleagues in paleogenetics established the presence in it of up to 17% of the genome of an archaic hominin not yet known to science. It is possible that it will soon be discovered. This is a very interesting, I would say, intriguing task, which is set for both anthropologists and archaeologists. Today's task. Work is currently underway in this direction.

Interviewed by Olga Belenitskaya. Journal "In the world of science"

Leipzig, Germany, led by Kay Prufer and Svante Paabo, studied the nuclear genome of a Neanderthal lady who lived in Altai about 50,000 years ago. Like any serious study, this work has a background. Svante Paabo and his colleagues began sequencing the Neanderthal nuclear genome in 2006. This is not an easy task, since ancient DNA has long since fallen apart and is often contaminated with the nucleic acids of microbes and modern humans. However, in 2010, they found out that Neanderthals gave their genes to Homo sapiens living outside of Africa.

Now scientists have received a refined version of the genome, in which the position of each nucleotide has been verified at least 50 times.

Neanderthal female finger phalanx

The material for the study was DNA from the phalanx of the ring finger or little finger of an adult woman who lived in Denisova cave in Altai. The phalanx was found in 2010 by Denisova Cave researchers Anatoly Derevyanko and Mikhail Shunkov and transferred to Leipzig for analysis.

Do not confuse the Neanderthal population of Denisova Cave with Denisovans.

They lived there a little later, about 40 thousand years ago, and although they were related to Asian Neanderthals, they were an independent group of the genus Homo. by the same group of researchers led by Svante Paabo and also from the phalanx of the finger.

The genome showed that the parents of the Neanderthal woman were closely related. They were relatives or cousins, or maybe uncle and niece, aunt and nephew, grandfather and granddaughter, grandmother and grandson. The scientists concluded that consanguineous marriages were common among Neanderthals and Denisovans, as they lived in small groups and were limited in their choice of mates. Researchers believe that the number of Neanderthals and Denisovans at that time was steadily declining, their time was coming to an end.

Comparison of the genomes of Neanderthals, Denisovans and modern humans showed that different groups of hominids in Late Pleistocene, 12-126 thousand years ago, met, communicated and left offspring.

The exchange of genes did not occur often, but quite regularly.

Excavations in Denisova Cave

Approximately 77-114 thousand years ago, Neanderthals split into Asian and European populations. Neanderthals living in the Caucasus exchanged genes with the ancestors of modern Eurasians and inhabitants of Australia and Oceania, Altai Neanderthals with Denisovans, Denisovans from unknown caves with the ancestors of modern inhabitants of mainland Asia and American Indians.

The Neanderthal contribution to the genome of modern Eurasians is, according to researchers, from 1.5 to 2.1%.

And the Denisovan genome, unlike the Neanderthal, contains 2.7-5.8% of the DNA of some unknown ancient hominids. Perhaps they separated 1.2-4 million years ago from the ancestors of modern people, Neanderthals and Denisovans. Researchers do not exclude that this mysterious ancestor - Homo erectus erectus, whose fossilized bones anthropologists find, but the DNA sequence has not yet been deciphered. Further research will show if this is the case.

Scientists have compiled a list of DNA sequences that distinguish modern humans from our closest extinct relatives. The list of differences turned out to be quite short. Changes affect, among other things, the genes responsible for cell division and the regulation of other genes. In order to find out how these modifications influenced the appearance of modern man and his biology, geneticists need to work further.

The nature of man, the origin of man - this is what excites people from the most ancient times. There are many versions, theories. Scientists are conducting research, trying to find answers to all questions. After reading the article, you will learn about another subspecies of ancient extinct people.

The Denisov man, or Denisovan, presumably existed in the Soloneshensky district of the Altai Territory, not far from the Denisova cave. Evidence of this was found in different periods and in different layers of the cave.

At the moment, only five fragments have been identified that allow us to talk about the Denisovan man. However, these traces are still not enough to restore its appearance completely. However, the fragments found are enough to argue that the remains of this person are different from the remains of Homo Sapiens, as well as from the remains of a Neanderthal.

Denisova cave

This cave is the most popular archaeological monument that Altai can boast of. Denisov man lived here, 250 kilometers from the city of Biysk. The cave is quite large, with an area of ​​270 m².

It is located near settlements, belongs to the horizontal type, which attracts a large number of tourists. However, there are also archaeologists here, whose hard work nevertheless led to a result.

According to the results of research, in the lower layers of the cave, whose age is about 120 thousand years, stone tools and jewelry were found, as well as traces of an ancient man, who was called Denisov.

Fragments of the remains of the Denisovan man

During the existence of the Soviet state, three molars were found in size much larger than the teeth of Homo sapiens. According to the examination, they belonged to a young male. A fragment of a finger phalanx was also found, the analysis of this element is still being carried out.

In a later period, already in 2008, another element was found - the bone of the phalanx of the child's finger.

Denisovan genome

The found fragment in the form of a Denisovan finger phalanx was studied by a team of scientists from the Leipzig Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. The study showed that the mitochondrial DNA of Denisovans differs from the mitochondrial DNA of Homo sapiens by 385 nucleotides. It is worth noting that the Neanderthal genome differs from the Homo Sapiens genome in 202 nucleotides.

Denisov man is closer to Neanderthal than to Homo sapiens. It is also worth noting that his genes were found in the Melanesians, and this allows us to talk about the massive interbreeding of people at the moment when the Melanesians left Africa and migrated to the southeast.

Descendants of Denisovan man

According to studies, Denisovan man separated as a subspecies about 400-800 thousand years ago. Today, the study of the fragments found in it allows us to find its genes in many modern nations. For example, most similar elements are found among the inhabitants of the countries of Southeast Asia and southern China, despite the fact that traces of these ancient people were found in Siberia.

It was also found that the named subspecies of extinct people, as well as the Neanderthal, passed on the genes responsible for the immune system to the European population. Thanks to this find, it was also possible to make a computer model showing the migration path of different types of ancestors of modern people and the places of their meetings with the Denisovans.

Scientists from Sweden believe that it is possible to find traces of the Denisovan man by comparing the found DNA with the DNA of modern people.

After the comparison, information was obtained both about the similarity of the Denisovan with modern man, and about the matches found in the Neanderthal and Denisovan. It was also possible to find out that the Denisovan genes are contained in the genotypes of people belonging to the oceanic and non-African populations.

Work at Harvard Medical School

According to research at Harvard Medical School, Denisovans are much further from modern humans than Neanderthals, although they were originally considered cousins. It was believed that Neanderthals and Denisovans were equally different from Homo sapiens. However, Harvard scientist David Reich managed to refute this.

Nevertheless, the scientist himself says that such a difference can also be explained by the fact that the Denisovans interbred with different types of ancient people.

The point of view of the German scientist Johannes Krause

German geneticist Johannes Krause from the University of Tübingen believes that the fragments found should not be ignored. Together with his colleagues, the scientist is studying the genome of the Denisovan man for the presence of traces of interbreeding. The fact is that the Denisovan teeth found are very large for this type of ancient man. It seems that its immediate ancestor was a primitive species.

According to the professor, the strangeness with teeth may well be explained by the version that the Denisovans interbred with archaic versions of people. Moreover, according to the professor, most likely it was a species already known to us, since most of them have not been studied at the gene level.

What do London scientists say?

London researcher Chris Stringer from a museum in the UK believes that while settling in Europe and Western Asia, he could well meet Denisovan man, which led to mass crossing. Also, an upright can be an excellent option, since it was common in many territories and could meet Denisovans.

Of course, these disputes can be resolved using the usual DNA analysis of all these species, but this is impossible, since they simply have not been preserved. Most hominins lived in hot environments, and therefore the genome was not preserved in their remains, unlike the remains of Neanderthals and Denisovans, which were found mainly in more severe and cold conditions.

The role of crossing in human nature

To date, many species and subspecies of ancient people, who are our ancestors, are already known. At the same time, one should not deny the fact that after they left Africa, they mated with many other species. It is likely that some more interesting genomes will be identified in the future.

At the moment, it is already known that mass crossings occurred constantly, including with as yet unidentified hominins. According to many scientists, interest in other species arose about 700 thousand years ago.

On the basis of the conducted research, it can be concluded that at some point in time, human evolution was divided into several lines, one of which subsequently led to the Denisovan man, and the more ancient ancestors of Homo sapiens and Neanderthals came out of the other. Scientists also found that Neanderthals, Denisovans and other species of Homo Sapiens lived in Altai for some time and interbred with each other. In addition, crossing occurred with other species that were encountered by Denisovans in different periods of time and in different territories.

It is a pity that the DNA of other types of ancient people was not preserved, otherwise this connection could be traced more clearly. However, modern human sciences do not stand still, and perhaps soon we will learn something new about our origin.

Denisov man ("Denisovets") is a separate population of ancient people who departed from the "main branch" of human development, about a million years ago. Denisovan is known from fragmentary material from Denisova cave in the Soloneshensky district of the Altai Territory of Russia.

Denisovskaya cave in the Soloneshensky region in Altai - so far the only place where direct evidence of the existence of Denisovans has been found - the remains of their life and fossils. For the first time this region was inhabited by humans about 65,000 years ago.

Denisov man - a fossil subspecies of ancient people, fragments of the remains of which were discovered in Denisova Cave in Altai. The DNA of the Denisovans differs from that of the Neanderthal and Homo sapiens species, but is closer to the Neanderthal. It is possible that a branch of the Denisovan people split off from the evolutionary tree about 700,000 years ago.

In the Denisova cave were found miniature bird bone needles with a drilled eye, ostrich egg shell beads, necklaces from animal teeth, shell pendants, jewelry made of ornamental stone.

Perhaps these traces DNA point to mass migration of Denisovans through the territories of China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea to Australia.

“Look where Altai is and where Australia is. How is this possible? How did 4% of the DNA of Denisovans get to the Australian aborigines? Roberts is surprised.

Australia is separated from Altai by 8368 km (for comparison, the length of the Trans-Siberian Railway is 9289 km). This is an unimaginable distance, which is why many of his colleagues doubt Roberts' hypothesis.

However, the professor himself believes that everything is possible and the representatives of the ancient species somehow made this epic journey.

Denisovan DNA has previously been found in the Eskimos and other northern peoples.

Eskimos and Denisovans have common genes

The inhabitants of the northern regions of the planet, where the average air temperature drops to -30 ° C, are carriers of a genome similar to the genome of the Denisovan man - a subspecies of extinct people who inhabited Siberia more than 40,000 years ago.

Temperatures in the arctic regions of Greenland, Canada and Alaska often exceed -30°C. A large group of indigenous peoples of the north of Chukotka, North America, the northern territories of Canada from the Labrador Peninsula to the mouth of the Mackenzie River - Eskimos (eskimanzig - "raw eater", "one who eats raw fish") and their subgroup Inuit (people) or Yuit - Siberian Eskimos survive the cold thanks to a diet of fish and the ability to generate heat from the specific type of fat that accumulates in their bodies.

The scientists compared the genetic data of 200 Greenlandic Inuit with ancient DNA taken from Neanderthals found in Denisovskaya Cave in Altai.
They isolated two genes, TBX15 and WARS2, that make up DNA similar to the genetic variant of the Denisovan.
The TBX15 gene influences the human body's response to cold and the distribution of fat. Both genes are active in skin and adipose tissue and are programmed differently than in Neanderthals and some modern humans.
Lead researcher Fernando Rasimo explained that the Inuit DNA sequence matches the Denisovan genome and differs from other sequences found in modern humans.
A study of Inuit DNA showed that 80% of men have a Y-chromosomal haplogroup Q, 11.7% - haplogroup R1, 8.3% belong to other haplogroups.

1. Name (more precisely, the working title) - "Denisova 11".

2. Source of information: nuclear DNA obtained from 175 mg of bone powder. Find: bone fragment 24.7 × 8.4 mm, location in the skeleton not established.

3. The age of the girl is over 13 years old (as stated in one of the scientific reports, "the age of the skeletal remains is more than 13 years before the time of death").

4. Father is a Denisovan, mother is a Neanderthal.

5. The parents of "Denisova 11" are not purebred representatives of their subspecies, they carry the genetic trace of previous crossings, which is reflected in the genome of the girl. So, her father had at least one Neanderthal ancestor during his lifetime.

6. The ancestors of Denisova 11 along the Neanderthal line were probably relatively recent (about 20,000 years before the life of the girl) newcomers from Europe: in particular, their genetic connection with the inhabitants of the Vindija cave (Croatia) can be traced.

7. 1.2% of Denisova 11 DNA fragments correspond to modern humans, 38.6% to Neanderthals and 42.3% to Denisovans.

Professor Svante Paabo, head of the laboratory of the Institute for the Study of the History of Man of the Max Planck Society (Leipzig, Germany):

“And to this day we are all hybrids. In the genome of certain groups of modern people, 10-15% of Neanderthal genes and 1.5-5% of Denisovan genes can be found. Even such a low proportion affects, according to one of our hypotheses, the adaptability to the high altitude of the inhabitants of Tibet and to the cold - of Greenland. Why not more? First, populations of subspecies of Homo did not meet and intermingle as often. Second, there was selective selection against hybridization.

Vivian Sloane, Svante Paabo's Lab:

– We carefully checked all our results and the purity of their receipt. Such versions as mixing of material in the laboratory, errors in analytical equipment, and even the consequences of cannibalism were excluded. We can confidently say: the genome of the daughter of a Denisovan man and a representative of the Altai Neanderthal population was sequenced(which split over 390,000 years ago - site note)

It has also been established that the interbreeding of various subspecies of hominids in the Pleistocene epoch took place practically at every contact of different populations.

Location of Denisova Cave

Scientific director of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the SB RAS Academician Anatoly Panteleevich Derevyanko:

Along with the Denisovans, Neanderthals also lived in the cave. The question naturally arises: how did they coexist? I recently made two hypotheses.

The first is antagonistic, when two species compete up to mutual destruction and even the consumption of their own kind for food. This is supported by the absence of objects of the Neanderthal industry in the Denisova Cave - only fragments of the remains of themselves. Although, I note that in the Okladnikov cave, located 45 km (in a straight line), a sufficient number of Neanderthal stone products were found, more archaic compared to Denisovans.

The second hypothesis is that there were complementary relationships between Neanderthals and Denisovans, up to interbreeding. In favor of this option is the last discovery made in the subtitle.

In the same eleventh layer, a fragment of a human bone was found in 2016, so tiny that it has not yet been possible to establish its exact place in the skeleton. But sequencing of the DNA obtained from the bone showed that this girl, at least 13 years old, was a hybrid of a Neanderthal and a Denisovan, and in the fourth generation. Note that mixed-breed offspring of different species (for example, horses and donkeys) are not capable of further reproduction. Since Neanderthals and Denisovans interbred repeatedly, this implies that they belong to the same biological species, with all the already established cultural and genetic differences.

This is an extremely important fundamental discovery. Denisovans and Neanderthals also interbred with early modern humans that formed in Africa 200,000–150,000 years ago. All this testifies to the unity of the biological species that settled in Africa and Eurasia. And this attracts more and more of our colleagues from all over the world to Denisova Cave: archaeologists, geneticists, anthropologists, paleontologists.

Did this discovery bring new knowledge about the appearance of Denisovans? Not yet. Genetic analysis provides incomplete information, since not all parts of the ancient genome can be restored. It all depends on the length of the chain and its sections that can be investigated. So, about the first girl from Denisova Cave, we only know that she was dark-skinned and brown-eyed, plus her approximate age.