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May 17, 2022 • 18 minutes ago • 3 minutes of reading • Join the conversation
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WASHINGTON – The tooth of a young girl dug from a cave wall in northeastern Laos gives a new idea of the mysterious extinct human species called the Denisovans, and reveals their ingenuity in adapting to both tropical and cold climates.
The tooth is one of the few physical remains known to the Denisovans, a sister line of the Neanderthals, who until now were known only from the remains of tooth and bone fossils from one place in Siberia and one in the Himalayas.
The molar, between 164,000 and 131,000 years old, belonged to a girl about 4-6 years old and had not yet erupted.
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Humid Laotian conditions mean that ancient DNA is not preserved in the molar, unlike other Denis remains. Researchers have determined that it is Denisovski based on its shape – short and very wrinkled – and the characteristics of the enamel. Ancient proteins indicate that the molar came from a girl.
It was discovered in a limestone cave called Tam Ngu Hao 2, known to locals as the Cobra Cave, in the Annamit Mountains.
“This is the first time Denisov has been discovered in a warm region,” said paleoanthropologist Fabrice Demeter of the Lundbeck Foundation’s Center for Geogenetics at the University of Copenhagen, lead author of the study, published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.
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“This means that they have been adapted to opposite environments, from cold and high to warm and low regions. In that respect, they were like us, the modern people, “Demeter added.
The existence of the Denisovites is unknown until the tip of a finger of about 40,000 years ago was discovered in 2010 in a cave in the Altai Mountains in Siberia. Three molars were also found at this place. A partial Denisov jaw from about 160,000 years ago was later discovered in a Tibetan cave.
“We would like to know much more about the people of Denisov. But I think it’s important to know that just as Neanderthals were known in Western Europe and the Middle East, Denisovans were a similar and closely related species that was found in much of Asia. ” Illinois. said author Laura Shackleford.
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The Lao Cave is located about 2,400 miles (3,800 km) from the Siberian Cave.
“Unfortunately, we know very little about what they looked like because there are so few fossils available,” Shackleford said, noting that Denisovans probably share some of the Neanderthal’s facial and tooth features.
Neanderthals had strong two-arched eyebrow edges, relatively large noses, and relatively large front teeth.
Genome research shows that our species, Homo sapiens, crossed with Denisovans 30,000 years ago. As a result, some modern people share about 5% of their DNA with Denisovans, including indigenous peoples in Papua New Guinea, Australia and the Philippines, with a lower percentage of DNA among the wider population of Southeast Asia.
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“This discovery (molar) is particularly important as it is the first direct evidence of the presence of Denisovans in Southeast Asia,” said Eske Vilerslev, director of the Lundbeck Foundation’s Geogenetic Center and co-author of the study.
A common ancestor of Denisovans, Neanderthals and Homo sapiens is believed to have lived in Africa 700,000 to 500,000 years ago, with the branch leading to the secession of Denisovans and Neanderthals 470,000 to 380,000 years ago. Homo sapiens first appeared in Africa about 300,000 years ago and then spread around the world.
Until 200,000 years ago, four different archaic human species inhabited Asia, including the Denisovans, Homo erectus, and small island nations called Homo floresiensis and Homo luzonensis. Then our species joined the battle.
Scientists have been searching for prehistoric human remains in northeastern Laos for decades. The tooth-bearing cave is located near another, where the remains of 70,000-year-old Homo sapiens have been found.
The girl’s molar was embedded in a sedimentary rock called breccia on a cave wall that also contained bone fragments and teeth from animals, including ancient rhinos and elephants.
“We didn’t really expect to find a Denisov tooth in Laos,” Demeter said.
(Report by Will Dunham, edited by Rosalba O’Brien)
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