New Species of Human-like creatures of finally been given a face
If you have studied anthropology (the study of humans), you have almost certainly heard of the well known species called the Homo neanderthalensis (better known as the neanderthals). What you probably haven’t heard of is its counterpart, the Denisovans. 15 years ago, Michael Shunkov and a handful of other Russian scientists discovered a tiny pinkie bone in a Siberian cave called Denisovan. But after testing the mitochondrial DNA, Dr. Fu, a graduate of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology located in Germany, made a different discovery. At first glance, it appeared like the bone of the 66,00 year old relative of the Homo sapiens, the Neanderthals, but after the scientist tested the DNA, she found DNA much different than that of the Neanderthals.
Over the past 15 years, scientists have been slowly gathering more and more bones that belonged to the mysterious creature. Named after the cave it was found in the Denisovans existed in present-day Asia about 285-25 thousand years ago. It was a close relative of the Neanderthals. Now, the scientists finally have enough evidence to give a picture of the face of the Denisovan. This Wednesday, Dr. Fu and her fellow anthropologists have finally found an intact skull that appears to be Denisovan.
The skull has a long history. In 1993, a construction worker found a weird skull, which he kept and hid in a well, hoping to retrieve and sell it. Thankfully, the man never got to find the skull. Before he died, he informed his family of the skull, which they donated to the Hebei GEO University. Qiang Ji, a paleoanthropologist, teamed up with his colleagues to analyze the skull. They found that it dated from around 146,000 years ago, or more. The scientists concluded that it belonged to a being with flat cheeks, a wide mouth, no chin, and a large eyebrow that hung over his sunken eyes and massive nose. Surprisingly, after tests, they found that the giant skull also housed a giant Brian, that was 7% larger than the brain of the Homo sapiens.
But scientists like Dr. Fu were doubtful- they wondered if the skull belonged to the Denisovans. After spending years testing on the skull and other fossils in the museum, she found no Denisovan DNA. Then she decided to start searching for DNA on the teeth. As expected, most of it contained bacteria, but a small fraction was Denisovan. This amazing discovery permitted scientists to expand their knowledge of anthropology and to understand where and how humans became humans.
Great work 🙂
