Who were the Denisovans?

[Skywizard]

http://www.digitaljournal.com/img/9/4/0/0/1/5/i/2/3/9/p-large/bracelet_green.jpg


In what is quite an amazing discovery, scientists have confirmed that a bracelet found in Siberia is 40,000 years old.
This makes it the oldest piece of jewelry ever discovered, and archeologists have been taken aback by the level of
its sophistication.

The bracelet was discovered in a site called the Denisova Cave in Siberia, close to Russia's border with China and Mongolia. It was found next to the bones of extinct animals, such as the wooly mammoth, and other artifacts dating back 125,000 years.

The cave is named after the Denisovan people — a mysterious species of hominins from the Homo genus, who are genetically different from both Homo sapiens and Neanderthals.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/img/9/4/0/0/1/5/i/2/3/9/p-medium/Denisovan_cave.jpg

The Denisovan cave in Siberia


We know that the Denisovans migrated out of Africa sometime after the first wave of Homo erectus, and well before us, Homo sapiens.

The Denisovans were unique in many ways, having branched away from other humanoid ancestors some 1 million years ago. Indeed, the recent discovery of a female Denisovan finger bone and various teeth shows that they had no morphological similarities to either Neanderthals or modern humans.

However, tens of thousands of years later, and prior to becoming extinct, they did coexist with us and the Neanderthals for a period, and skeletal remains of hybrids, and genetic studies confirm that they also mated with our forebears and the Neanderthals.

Strangely, however, DNA evidence also suggests that, at some point, the Denisovans must have interbred with an as yet unknown and undiscovered species of humans beings.

Skeletal remains show that the Denisovans were probably far more robust and powerful than modern humans, and were, until now, assumed to be a more primitive, archaic type of humans than us.

But, the discovery of the bracelet suggests this was far from true. Amazingly, the skill involved in making this adornment shows a level of technique at least 30,000 years ahead of its time.

Until now, scientists had believed that such skills had only evolved among humans in the Neolithic period, which began at about 10,000 BC. Indeed, originally, they believed that the bracelet had somehow become mixed up with materials dating from a later period.

However, experiments have now definitely ruled that out, and they confirm that it could not have been made by homo sapiens or Neanderthals. After 7 years of analysis, the scientists are confident that the piece was made 30,000 years before the beginning of the Stone Age.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/img/9/4/0/0/1/5/i/2/3/9/p-medium/bracelet_2.jpg

General reconstruction of the
view of the bracelet and
compraison with the moders
bracelet


Dr Anatoly Derevyanko said, "The skills of its creator were perfect. Initially we thought that it was made by Neanderthals or modern humans, but it turned out that the master was Denisovan."

Mikhail Shunkov, deputy director of the the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography in Novosibirsk, part of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, suggested that the find indicates that the Denisovans were more advanced than Homo sapiens and Neanderthals.

What is incredible is that the craftsman who made the adornment, seems to have used something similar to a modern drill.

Dr Derevyanko stated, "Science First Hand, that when they studied the diameters of the bracelet, they found that the rotational speed of the drill must have been quite high, and with minimal fluctuations."

"The ancient master" he said, "was skilled in techniques previously considered not characteristic for the Palaeolithic era, such as easel speed drilling, boring tool type rasp, grinding and polishing with a leather and skins of varying degrees of tanning."

http://www.digitaljournal.com/img/9/4/0/0/1/5/i/2/3/9/p-medium/bracelet_drill.jpg

Drilling marks on Denisovan
bracelet


Held in place by what they believe was a leather strap, the bracelet itself was made from a type of stone called chlorite, which could only have been imported from some 200km (125 miles) away.

The bracelet was very delicate and was probably worn at special occasions by some important person, such as a Denisovan princess.

Shunkov explains, "All jewellery had a magical meaning for ancient people. Bracelets and neck adornments were to protect people from evil spirits, for instance."

"But this item, given the complicated technology and "imported" material, obviously belonged to some high ranking person of that society."

Commenting on its beauty, Anatoly Derevyanko added, "The bracelet is stunning. In bright sunlight it reflects the sun rays, at night by the fire it casts a deep shade of green."

The archeologists are reported to have also found a ring made of marble, but they have not yet disclosed any findings about it.




Source: http://m.digitaljournal.com/science/40-000-year-old-bracelet-from-extinct-human-species-discovered/article/432798


http://www.picgifs.com/graphics/p/peace/graphics-peace-092737.gifpeace...

[amor]

Is this earth a genetic laboratory? Are we fine tuned and then destroyed? The Overlords would not like competition after all.

[ghostrider]

If the bracelet is 40,000 years old, the civilization that made it is over 40,000 years old ... there is talk in some circles human beings migrated here 389,000 years ago ... we keep finding jewelry, weapons, statues, cultures that seem to be much older than our science tells us ... I love researching the ancient past ...

[Bill Ryan]

No, none of that here!

It's very interesting to read about the Denisovans. Almost nothing is known about them, and the bone fragments discovered, which everything is derived from, are really minimal. In fact, all that's ever been found is part of one finger, and one tooth. Really.

This is exactly what we have:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Denisova_Phalanx_distalis.jpg/180px-Denisova_Phalanx_distalis.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1f/Denisova_Molar.jpg/180px-Denisova_Molar.jpg

I'd suggest reading about them, rather than wildly and unhelpfully speculating. :)


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denisovan

[Did You See Them]

Speculation - exactly ! - who says they had princess's ??

"The bracelet was very delicate and was probably worn at special occasions by some important person, such as a Denisovan princess."

[Bill Ryan]

See this other interesting thread:


Denisovans interbred with non-human race (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?95766-Denisovans-interbred-with-non-human-race)

... in which I posted (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?95766-Denisovans-interbred-with-non-human-race&p=1131463&viewfull=1#post1131463)


.In this video, posted by Atlas here (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?86680-Yeti-The-Daily-Mirror-s-Archives&p=1129039&viewfull=1#post1129039), the Denisovans are featured, from 58:18:


https://123movies.is/film/yeti-or-not-13097

(In the video, the narrator asks whether the Denisovans, who most anthropologists think were pretty large and strong, might have survived in some adapted form, giving rise to the many sightings of the Yeti in the Himalayas.)

Here's a 100% hypothetical, speculative image of a Denisovan. (Not unattractive! Might have been a 'princess'. :) )

http://i.imgur.com/IQOHq.jpg

What's interesting here is that there's SO much speculation: some well-informed, some not. Most people don't know that the entire reconstruction of anthropological history is made from an astonishingly tiny quantity of bones that had been discovered.

From the many hundreds of thousands of humans and human ancestors that must have lived in the distant past, if all the finds ever made were laid out in one place, they would cover two large trestle tables. That's all we have.

[Atlas]

Polished stone bracelet of Neolithic era
http://siberiantimes.com/PICTURES/SCIENCE/Denisovan-oldest-bracelet/inside_typical_polished_stone_bracelet_neolythic.jpg
Pictures: Anatoly Derevyanko and Mikhail Shunkov, Vera Salnitskaya

http://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/features/f0100-stone-bracelet-is-oldest-ever-found-in-the-world/

[enigma3]

At first glance the bracelet looks like jade to me. What with its opaque green color at the edges. I'll have to look at other examples of chlorite. Nicely chosen material.

What is most stunning to me is that they had the ability to drill this hard material. So what were the drills made of? Another ooparts anomaly here.

[Justplain]

We shouldnt be too surprised by this find. The giza pyramids and puma punku in bolivia all show advanced drill holes. In fact, the underground chambers discovered in the middle east/asia minor indicate communities that, in some cases, are extremely ancient (in human terms) that used hi tech drilling/excavating. Because some of these chambers have apparently been submerged and re-emerged, with sediment dating these habitats appear to be millions of years old, making these denisovan artifacts very recent. Perhaps the ancient ones werent our dna humans, but likely humanlike and probably related.

Megalithic structures point to civilizations dating back over possibly millions of years:


http://earthbeforeflood.com/who_and_when_constructed_underwater_underground_terrestrial_megalithic_complex.html

[dredsen]

what if it's not even a bracelet, but rather a piece of something larger ?

[Hervé]

Images and artifacts from the Siberian cave where inter-species love child 'Denny' lived 90,000 years ago (https://siberiantimes.com/science/profile/features/peek-inside-the-siberian-cave-where-inter-species-love-child-denny-lived-90000-years-ago/)

The Siberian Times (https://siberiantimes.com/science/profile/features/peek-inside-the-siberian-cave-where-inter-species-love-child-denny-lived-90000-years-ago/)
Sat, 25 Aug 2018 12:00 UTC


https://www.sott.net/image/s24/485383/large/information_items_7471.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s24/485383/full/information_items_7471.jpg)
© Vera Salnitskaya

The Denisova Cave.


Teenage girl 'Denny', the latest breathtaking discovery from the Denisova cave in Siberia has understandably made headlines around the world this week.

Earlier finds from here have shown how the cave - in mountainous Altai region - was shared in prehistoric times by three groupings, early Homo sapiens, the more advanced (at the time) but extinct Denisovans and the Neanderthals, also long gone.

A tiny fragment of bone now proves that girl of around 13 was the result of an unexpected match between a Denisovan man and a woman from the more primitive Neanderthals, scientists reported in Nature journal.

Here we look inside the remarkable cave which - as this scientific breakthrough was announced - remains a hive of activity with archaeological researchers painstakingly scouring the dirt floor for yet more jaw-dropping discoveries.

Our video and pictures take you into the limestone cave that is a remarkable shrine to the evolution of modern man.


https://www.sott.net/image/s24/485384/large/standard_finger_bone_Max_Planc.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s24/485384/full/standard_finger_bone_Max_Planc.jpg)
Fingerbone fragment.


Not only the Denisova Cave was home to 'Denny' 90,000 years ago, but to even earlier humans and before them animals going back 288,000 years.

A decade ago a tiny finger bone fragment of so-called 'X woman' was discovered, a young female who lived around 41,000 years ago, analysis of which indicated that she was genetically distinct from both Neanderthals and modern humans.

This was evidence of the existence of the Denisovans, named after the cave, later enabling scientists to prove that their DNA lives on today especially - of all places - in native populations of Papua New Guinea and Australia, thousands of miles away from Siberia.

In the cave, too, was found the world's oldest bracelet - made from stunning green-hued chlorite - not by Homo sapiens but Denisovans and now firmly dated at around 50,000 years old, using techniques more common to 12,000 years ago, say scientists.

A remarkable bone needles - still useable after 50,000 years - was also unearthed here.


https://www.sott.net/image/s24/485402/large/bracelet1.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s24/485402/full/bracelet1.jpg)



https://www.sott.net/image/s24/485387/large/needle1.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s24/485387/full/needle1.jpg)
Bone needle found inside the Denisova Cave.



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https://www.sott.net/image/s24/485389/large/inside_boy_washing_finds.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s24/485389/full/inside_boy_washing_finds.jpg)
Each summer the search goes on for more.


One scientist - Professor Alexander Agadzhanyan - has been coming to this remarkable site for 35 years and he speaks enthusiastically of the latest finds on the day we visited in July - including a bone from an extinct woolly rhinoceros, hunted by ancient cave residents.

Inside the cave, some 670 metres (2,198 feet) above sea level, a straggle of tourists venturing to these remote parts look in awe from a viewing platform at a place that has been home to people for so long.

Behind a screen, though, the scientific hunt goes on for yet more secrets on the origins of modern humanity.

Whispers are heard from crouching archeologists busily digging through layers of illuminated soil for the left behind remnants of our forbears.


https://www.sott.net/image/s24/485390/large/inside_den_inside_gv.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s24/485390/full/inside_den_inside_gv.jpg)



https://www.sott.net/image/s24/485391/large/inside_Denisova_best_gv_inside.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s24/485391/full/inside_Denisova_best_gv_inside.jpg)


Research fellow Maksim Kozlikin explained: 'We divided the area into squares with the size 1x1 metre.

'Each square we subdivided into two parts.

'Over there you see people carefully removing all the ground from the square, layer by layer. Each thin layer is about 4 cm.

'If they see any big find - implements or bones, they leave it in its place, and carefully clean it.

'We take pictures of each find, draw the location and measure the angle to understand if the find was replaced or moved.

'If it lies at an angle to the surface, we suggest that the find and the layer was somehow disturbed.

'If the finding lies horizontally, we see that the layer was not disturbed. All the measurement we put on excavation site plan, with the exact coordinates.

'Here no more than two can work, these two researchers are very slender ladies, but still there is not enough space.'

Regularly the buckets of soil they fill are sent by an aerial cable to cleaners on the bank of the Anui River some 28 metres (92 ft) below.

Each one may contain tiny bones of former residents, or their prey, or their tools or treasures.

Every bucket carries labelling indicating the layer and grid square in which it was found: information that indicates its probable age.




Cont'd below...

[Hervé]

Cont'd from above:

...

As empty buckets are returned by cable up the mountain, sieves are used to wash the latest finds in the fast-flowing river.


https://www.sott.net/image/s24/485392/large/inside_blond_girl_choosing.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s24/485392/full/inside_blond_girl_choosing.jpg)



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https://www.sott.net/image/s24/485398/large/inside_drying.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s24/485398/full/inside_drying.jpg)


From here, each fresh collection of finds is sent to the nearby archeologists' village where Professor Mikhail Shunkov, author and co-author of more than 450 scientific papers, and other eminent Russian scientists - often visited by foreign guests - are on hand to examine the latest discoveries and supervise further analysis.

The detective work that has unlocked such discoveries here is testimony to multidisciplinary collaboration by academics, an approach stressed by Prof Shunkov, head of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography, of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Here, too, we met Professor Agadzhanyan, Head of the Mammal Laboratory of Moscow Paleontological Institute.

'It is clear as shown by our molecular research that ....there was a family where the mother was Neanderthal, the father was Denisovan,' he said. 'This is a very interesting, exotic research...

'How could these two different early humans breed?

He joked: 'Well, it must be that attitude of their parents was quite liberal to allow them to do that.'

Dr Anatoly Derevyanko, former head of the institute, recently recalled the extraordinary moment - with "global implications" - that the Denisovans were discovered a decade ago.
'After I passed a fragment of a human phalanx found in Denisova cave in Altai to Professor Svante Paabo, the sequencing of mitochondrial and then nuclear DNA showed that it wasn't a Neanderthal or Homo sapiens but a new ancestor species of Homo,' he said.

'Paabo said that when he got a phone call from the laboratory in Leipzig, he was out of Germany at that moment, and he was warned: 'Svante, if you're standing now, sit down. We'll tell you something overwhelming'.

'The find was made in cultural layer/level 11-2.

'Later this and other horizons produced more fragments of organisms, tools and other items related to 'Denisovan man' - as we started calling them.

'After some time more finds were made in the same cultural layers/levels, and after DNA analysis they showed that Neanderthal lived in the cave together with Denisovan.

'I expressed two hypotheses.

'The first was antagonistic: when two species compete to the extent of extermination and even cannibalism. The argument in favour of this is the absence of Neanderthal items in the Denisova cave, only their remains....

'The second hypothesis is that they had complementary relations to the extent of cross-breeding.

'The latest discovery favours this version.

'A tiny fragment of bone, so tiny that it has not been established yet where in the skeleton it comes from, was found in the same layer/level 11 in 2016.

'Sequencing of DNA obtained from the little bone showed that it was a girl at least 13 years of age, and she was a hybrid of Neanderthal and Denisovan.'

https://www.sott.net/image/s24/485394/large/inside_the_cave_3.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s24/485394/full/inside_the_cave_3.jpg)



https://www.sott.net/image/s24/485395/large/inside_cave_closer_gv.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s24/485395/full/inside_cave_closer_gv.jpg)


The Denisovan culture was 'the most ancient and brightest' in Upper Paleolithic Eurasia, Dr Derevyanko said.
'The earliest Upper Paleolithic finds in the Middle East are dated 48,000-47,000 years ago, our finds in Altai are older than 50,000 years.'
His theory is that the harsh Siberian conditions acted as a spur to cultural development.
'Rather harsh and changeable natural conditions forced Denisovans to be more adaptive than, for example, their contemporaries in Europe and South East Asia.

'The material culture of Denisovans is a wider set of tools compared to tropics or subtropics where humans could feed on plant food nearly all year and hunting was a side activity.

'Wild growing plants contributed to 10%-15% of the Denisovan diet in two to three summer months.

'The rest of it depended exclusively on hunting which requires developing cognitive abilities: communication, group activities, passing on experience and so on.

'Tools that are tied to Denisovans were also found at open-air sites, for example, in Karama.

'This required skills for building quite warm dwellings.

'But the key indicator of progress are changes in technology for manufacturing stone and bone tools and various types of jewellery from stones, bones and shells.'

https://www.sott.net/image/s24/485400/large/inside_1.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s24/485400/full/inside_1.jpg)
Bead found inside the Denisova cave. © Maksim Kozlikin


The finds indicate the Denisovan skills in developing new tools 'such as cutters and hole-making tools, use of new material -- bone.

'Fragments of at least ten needles have been discovered here, including [B]a unique intact needle 8 centimetres long.

'Although hunting territories of the two groups (Neanderthals and Denisovans) were separate, they, as it is clear now, regularly contacted, including in a very intimate way.'

DNA analysis shows 'Denny's' chromosomes were a 50-50 mix of Neanderthal and Denisovan, two distinct species of early humans that split apart between 400,000 to 500,000 years ago.

'There was earlier evidence of interbreeding between different hominin, or early human, groups,' said lead author of the Nature study, Vivian Slon, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

'But this is the first time that we have found a direct, first-generation offspring,' she said.

'The very fact that we found this individual of mixed Neanderthal and Denisovan origin suggests that they interbred much more often than we thought," said Slon.

Paabo agreed: "They must have quite commonly had kids together, otherwise we wouldn't have been this lucky."


Related:

Human origins are much more diverse than previously thought (https://www.sott.net/article/384234-Human-origins-are-much-more-diverse-than-previously-thought)



Neanderthals were painting and decorating at least 20,000 years before humans arrived (https://www.sott.net/article/378145-Neanderthals-were-painting-and-decorating-at-least-20000-years-before-humans-arrived)



Neanderthals may have died out due to competition with homo sapiens for food resources (https://www.sott.net/article/362551-Neanderthals-may-have-died-out-due-to-competition-with-homo-sapiens-for-food-resources)



"Mosaic" skulls linked to mysterious Denisovan humans who became extinct in last ice age (https://www.sott.net/article/377876-Mosaic-skulls-linked-to-mysterious-Denisovan-humans-who-became-extinct-in-last-ice-age)



Siberia: 50,000 year old bones may be the oldest Homo sapiens outside Africa and Middle East (https://www.sott.net/article/386853-Siberia-50000-year-old-bones-may-be-the-oldest-Homo-sapiens-outside-Africa-and-Middle-East)



Child of Neanderthal and Denisovan identified for first time (https://www.sott.net/article/394131-Child-of-Neanderthal-and-Denisovan-identified-for-first-time)



The Truth Perspective: Are Cells the Intelligent Designers? Why Creationists and Darwinists Are Both Wrong (https://www.sott.net/article/393798-The-Truth-Perspective-Are-Cells-the-Intelligent-Designers-Why-Creationists-and-Darwinists-Are-Both-Wrong#)



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[Justplain]

Hi Herve. It appears that the denisovian humans may be the proginetors of the giants, some that had elongated skulls and double rows of teeth, found all around the world. The smithsonian institute, founded around 1850, was the repository of hundreds of these skeletons and has admitted to destroying them. The elongated skull skeletons found in Paracus, Peru, shepherded by Brien Forster, have been dna tested and found to be akin to a race/species from the central asia area not that far from the Denisovan cave.

If one regards the artifacts collected by Klaus Dona, you will realize that the creators of many of those artifacts had advanced knowledge and tools that could precision craft hard stones.

I believe the speculation arising in the alt-archeology scene is that the denisovan species may have been the Atlanteans and that human/denisovan hybrids were the giants that were world-wide but which for some reason went extinct in the past 500 to 2000 years.

The denisovans are credited with that stone bracelet that was 40k bce. Its quite likely that species could have built one or more of the global civilizations that predated the atlantean flood

[shaberon]

I am not sure about giants, however, Denisovan DNA has been studied and compared to the world, and its highest concentration is about 5% amongst the Indonesians.

The weird Peruvian DNA I am not sure has been properly analyzed; claims were made, but it lacks any peer review or published paper as can be found for the Denisovans or anyone else.

[onawah]

Denisovans: They Might Be Giants, Biggest Secret
Mystery & Discovery
Published on Feb 17, 2019
i2SAaQLCksE

Dark Journalist announced on his most recent show
(See: http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?102135-Dark-Journalist-Joseph-Farrell-UFO-X-Factor-Black-Budget-Secret-Space-Network-16-March-2018&p=1278940&viewfull=1#post1278940 )
...that Graham Hancock has written a new book and he is going to be a guest soon on DJ's show. I wonder if the new book has to do with the Denisovans.

[Hervé]

45,000 year old lion statuette found in Denisova Cave may be world's oldest (https://www.siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/news/cave-lion-figurine-made-of-woolly-mammoth-tusk-found-at-denisova-cave/)

Anna Liesowska, Svetlana Skarbo The Siberian Times (https://www.siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/news/cave-lion-figurine-made-of-woolly-mammoth-tusk-found-at-denisova-cave/)
Wed, 20 Nov 2019 23:10 UTC


https://www.sott.net/image/s27/546359/large/information_items_7740.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s27/546359/full/information_items_7740.jpg)
Cave lion figurine in situ at the Denisova Cave in the Altai mountains. © Institute of Archeology and Ethnography


Aged approximately 45,000 years, this might be the world's oldest animal statuette.

The sensational discovery was made three months ago in the Altai Mountains by the team of archeologists from Novosibirsk Institute of Archeology and Ethnography.

The precious small - 42mm long, 8mm thick and 11mm high - figurine of a cave lion (Panthera spelaea, lat) was made by an Upper Palaeolithic artist between 40,000 and 45,000 years ago.

It was found inside the 11th layer of the southern gallery of the Denisova Cave.


https://www.sott.net/image/s27/546360/large/st2.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s27/546360/full/st2.jpg)

https://www.sott.net/image/s27/546361/large/st3.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s27/546361/full/st3.jpg)
The lion's head is missing, what we see is its hind legs, groin, back and belly, covered in an ornament of eighteen rows of notches.

This is the oldest sculptural zoomorphic image ever found in Siberia and throughout the territory of Northern and Central Asia.

The precise age is yet to be confirmed, but the cautious dating given by Siberian archeologists means that this might be the oldest animal figurine in the world.

The lion's head is missing, what we see is its hind legs, groin, back and belly, covered in an ornament of eighteen rows of notches.

There are two extra rows with four notches on the lion's right side.

'The figurine depicts an animal with its tummy tucked in, its hind legs bent. It is either galloping, jumping or getting ready to jump. The animal is shown in a typical for big cats position for the moment when they are ready to catch a prey', said Mikhail Shunkov, head of the Institute's Stone Age Archeology Department.

The mammoth ivory for the statuette was delivered from quite a distance away, Russian scientists say. It had to be carried for at least 100 kilometres from the northern footsteps of the Altai Mountains.

After finishing the figurine, the cave artist used red ochre to paint it.

So far traces of it were found mostly around the stomach area - which even led to an idea that it could be symbolising a bleeding wound - but researcher Alexander Fedorchenko believes that most likely the whole animal was painted red.

Remains of ocher were found only in the southern gallery of the Denisova cave.

In 2018 a 'pencil' and a marble stone with traces of ocher powder were discovered in the same area where later archeologist unearthed the cave lion - making the trio the first set of such kind in history of Siberian archeology.


https://www.sott.net/image/s27/546362/large/st4.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s27/546362/full/st4.jpg)



https://www.sott.net/image/s27/546363/large/st5.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s27/546363/full/st5.jpg)
© Institute of Archeology and Ethnography


In 2018 a ‘pencil’ and a marble stone with traces of ocher powder were discovered in the same area where later archeologist unearthed the cave lion.

It is still unclear if the figurine depicts a male or a female lion, as well as the purpose of the find. The archeologists believe it is 'too simplistic' to assume this was a toy, but there is no proof that it could have been a cult item.

The artist's identity is another question to be answered. The assumption is that it was a Denisovan, but as professor Shunkov added, '45000 years ago was the time when Homo sapiens already wandered around Siberia, so it was quite likely that they could have influenced the Denisovans.'

Was this one of the first-known artistic collaboration then?

The answer is yet to come, say archeologists, but they are certain that by the style it was made the Denisovan Cave Lion doesn't resemble anything previously found in the world.

The closest in style are cave lions figurines from Vogerfelt Cave in south-west Germany, and from caves in south-west France.


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Treasures of the Denisova cave: the stunning bracelet, the world's oldest needle, the mammoth ivory tiara and set of tools. © Institute of Archeology and Ethnography, The Siberian Times


The Denisova Cave lies right at the border of the Altai region and the Altai Republic in the south of Western Siberia.

Locals call it Ayu Tash, which means Bear Rock.

Now world-famous, the cave first caught attention of Soviet scientists in 1970s when they found first paleo-archeological remains.

It was inside the Denisova Cave in 2008 that Siberian archeologists discovered a tiny finger bone fragment of 'X woman', a juvenile female believed to have lived around 41,000 years ago.

Analysis showed she was genetically distinct from thick-browed Neanderthals and modern humans.

The recent addition to the human family tree was christened Denisovan.

Further research showed that the Denisovans were a sister group of Neanderthals. The two groups split from a common ancestor around 390,000 years ago.

Like Neandertals, Denisovans lived until about 40,000 years ago.

The Denisova Cave is relatively small with floor area of about 270m2.

It has three galleries - the cosy Central Chamber with high, arched ceiling and a hole that lets in natural light, the South Gallery and the East Gallery.

The cave is nicely positioned above river Anuy, which must have given all three hominids - the Neanderthals, the Denisovans and the Homo Sapiens - some stunning sunset views over the past 120,000 years.

Now the site has a permanent research camp, a pride of Novosibirsk Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography.


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50,000 year old "tiara" found in Denisovan cave in Siberia, may be oldest of its kind (https://www.sott.net/article/402341-50000-year-old-tiara-found-in-Denisovan-cave-in-Siberia-may-be-oldest-of-its-kind)



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[Bill Ryan]

A fascinating new article:

https://explorersweb.com/mysterious-denisovans-survived-on-tibetan-plateau

Mysterious Denisovans Survived on Tibetan Plateau for 160,000 Years

https://explorersweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Capture-b-e1720477152669-1.jpg
The Baishiya Karst Cave

The discovery of bones in a Tibetan cave 3,280m above sea level suggests that the little-known Denisovans lived on the high, arid plateau for millennia.

Researchers found over 2,500 bones in the Baishiya Karst Cave, which is one of just two places where we are sure the Denisovans lived. The elusive hominins were contemporaries of both Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. There is evidence that they interbred with both groups.

The few known Denisovan remains lie within only three caves. We have no idea when or why they died out, which means that every discovery about them is invaluable. Their presence on the harsh Tibetan Plateau gives an insight into the ancient humans’ ability to survive a wide range of climates and diets.

The recently discovered bones include one Denisovan rib that dated to between 48,000 and 32,000 years ago. This is the same time that Homo sapiens were spreading across Eurasia. We already have evidence that these ancient humans lived in this area 190,000 years ago. The new fossil suggests they endured two cold periods and a warmer interglacial period between the Middle and Late Pleistocene eras.

https://explorersweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Capture-v-e1720477166919.jpg
The Denisovan rib fragment dates between 48,000 and 32,000 years ago

Good place to live, despite altitude

“The fossil and molecular evidence indicates that Ganjia Basin, where Baishiya Karst Cave is located, provided a relatively stable environment for Denisovans, despite its high altitude,” said Frido Welker, co-author of the study (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07612-9). “The question now arises when and why these Denisovans on the Tibetan Plateau went extinct.”

Nearly all other bones within the cave belong to animals and indicate the diet of these ancient humans. Unfortunately, the bones were in such small fragments that they were nearly impossible to identify by sight. Instead, the researchers analyzed the bone collagen using mass spectrometry to figure out what species they belonged to.

The vast majority came from blue sheep, small birds, wild yaks, equids, woolly rhinos, and spotted hyenas. The markings on the bones show how adept the Denisovans were at hunting and using all parts of the animals they caught. Markings on the surfaces show they stripped all meat from the bones and removed all the bone marrow. Many fragments had also been fashioned into tools.

The study “reveals new information about the behavior and adaptation of Denisovans both to high altitude conditions and shifting climates,” said one researcher. “We are only just beginning to understand the behavior of this extraordinary human species.”

[Sue (Ayt)]

This recent article is about the sequencing of a second DNA from a bone found in the same Siberian cave as the 13-year-old girl's.

The most ancient human genome yet has been sequenced—and it’s a Denisovan’s 200,000-year-old DNA from Siberian cave shows our elusive, extinct cousins mated repeatedly with Neanderthals (https://www.science.org/content/article/most-ancient-human-genome-yet-has-been-sequenced-and-it-s-denisovan)
11 JUL 20244:15 PM ETBYANN GIBBONS
https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSUjRkXbYrgarg38gqrPWV2Bz6qBrPCtEpNCMERjvf1wPMGga6F

"By the time population geneticist Stéphane Peyrégne gave his talk Tuesday afternoon at a meeting in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, rumors had circulated and the auditorium was packed. He didn’t disappoint: “I’m pleased to tell you about a new Denisovan genome from a 200,000-year-old male,” said Peyrégne, a postdoc at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

The genetic sequence he unveiled is the oldest high-quality human genome yet—80,000 years older than the previous record holder: a Neanderthal that lived about 120,000 years ago. The new results come after more than a decade of effort to find fossilized bones and a second genome of a Denisovan, the mysterious archaic human discovered through its DNA 14 years ago. That first Denisovan genome came from a girl’s pinkie finger bone dated between 60,000 to 80,000 years ago. The genomes of both Denisovans and the ancient Neanderthal all came from the same cold, fossil-rich site: Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains of Siberia.

According to the analysis by Peyrégne and colleagues, the newly sequenced male comes from a distinct population of early Denisovans that interbred multiple times with a group of Neanderthals whose population had not been detected in DNA before."

The article continues here (https://www.science.org/content/article/most-ancient-human-genome-yet-has-been-sequenced-and-it-s-denisovan)