Who Were The Denisovans? Mysterious Extinct Species

Who were the Denisovans?
Denisovans are the first group of ancient extinct archaic humans to have been discovered based on their DNA alone, even though this happened by accident.
In 2008 research was done in the Denisova cave by archaeologists from the Russian academy of Sciences during their investigation they discovered a finger bone from a teenage female hominin that was thought to have lived somewhere between 50.000 and 30.000 years ago.
In total we have fossils belonging to 6 different distinct Denisovan individuals that were found in the Denisova Cave.
These individuals have been identified through their DNA, and they are known as; Denisova 2, Denisova 3 who is also known as X Woman, Denisova 4, Denisova 8, Denisova 11 and Denisova 13.
Denisova 11, or otherwise known as Denny, is of significance for a very different reason, the fossil belonging to her body was discovered in 2012.
The fossil is a piece of either an arm or a leg bone and this was another adolescent female, approximately 13 years of age and she lived approximately 90.000 years ago.
This is the only Denisovan and Neanderthal hybrid that we know of at this point in time.
She is a 1st Generation archaic hybrid, research has uncovered that she had a Neanderthal Mother and a Denisovan Father.
All Denisovan fossils came from this one location, the Denisova Cave in Siberia and their DNA was discovered to be carried by many people in Asia, Indonesia and all the way down south to Australia.
But in 2019 a research group in China discovered that a partial mandible found in the Baishiya Cave on the Tibetan Plateau in China belonged to a Denisovan.
They were not able to extract DNA from this bone, but they were able to do an ancient protein analysis that contained collagen and found this specimen had closes affiliation to the Denisovans from the Denisova Cave.
The researchers discovered that the Mitochondrial DNA of Denisovans differ on 385 of the 16.500 bases, or nucleotides, with Modern Humans.
To put this in perspective a bit, modern human and Neanderthals only differ on 202 of the 16.500 nucleotides.
But this wasn’t the only type of DNA research that was done on the Denisovans, aside from the Mitochondrial DNA they also did Nuclear DNA testing and through that the researchers discovered that the Denisovans and Neanderthals were much more closely related to each other than both of them were related to modern humans.

So what do we know about what Denisovans looked like?
Well, as you can imagine there is little known about the Anatomy of the Denisovans, because we only have a small amount of physical remains and the ones that we do have are either small in size or teeth and therefore not indicative of their appearance.

#Denisovans #NeanderthalDenisovanHybrid #DenisovanDNA

Music: Adrian von Ziegler
Thumbnail picture created by: Maayan Harel
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[peteraschubert]

You don't need bloopers. You do a great job of finding unique and interesting facets of the history and presenting them in an enjoyable and totally natural manner, that makes the viewer feel like their having a conversation with a friend - very accessible. Your own speculations on how the Denisovans may have lived day to day and related to other Homo spp was quite good.

[nicelydunwell]

As someone who identifies as an archaic hominid, I appreciate your thorough and thoughtful presentation.

[stefaniehanson]

Just found your channel a few weeks ago, I nearly listen to one of your videos a day. So much quality and very interesting. You doing a amazing job!

[Unkl_Bob]

7 months old already but I am GLAD to finally have watched this most excellent "episode" . Thanks

[malizio]

There’s traces of Denisovans DNA on Australian and Papua New Guinea aborigines, its amazing how humanoids have moved around the globe since year 0 plus the DNA is absent or low levels in populations on mainland Asia where the fossil was found.
Thank you so much Kayleigh for creating quality content “high fives and hugs”from Toronto.

[Aizawaismylife]

I would love to see a full dna comparison involving all three of these groups.

[christabrouwer]

What an exciting journey into the ancient history of our ancesters you take us on, Kayleigh!!

[stephenjackson]

After a long, dull day at work, it's always wonderful to come home and listen to my favourite historian, speaking on another fascinating topic. I can't wait for your next instalment on this journey.

[davidkuder]

Really great analysis & presentation, Kayleigh! You cover the nuances of this fascinating subject so well. Eagerly awaiting your future findings on the Denisovan impact and northern European migration theory. Have you looked into the possible interaction between ancient Denisovan and archaic Danish... or any Denisovan diffusion into the Levant? Some speculate that the lost Tribe of Dan escaped the Assyrian invasion by hopping aboard Phoenician ships & making it to lower Scandinavia ("Dan Mark"), and thus to Iceland... but that's in much more modern times. Again, keep up the great work.

[jeffstever]

So I jumped down the rabbit hole today and I found this and I've been watching your stuff for a while but haven't seen this one and now I'm going to go back and check out your playlist and just have a ball I do love your work I'm so glad your health is well😊😊😊😊

[EidolonandOnly]

I love learning of the earlier human species and ancestors, as well as close genetic cousins. Hominins/hominids are fascinating. Thanks for what you do.

[alexanderweinrich]

I’m glad the algorithm put this on my home page! I’ll definitely check out more of your videos, great work!

[johndavis]

Wow I’m this one video I’ve learned more about Denisovans than I learned from all others since the discoveries were announced. Thank you Kayleigh.

[timsmith]

Great start @History with Kayleigh! Looking forward to your Deni 11 video too.

[Maderyne]

How hard it must be to understand a book, when all you have is the last chapter to read? Thank-you Kayleigh for this. I always liked the idea that we as a species have within us the remnants of other species of humanoids. It's better to be a hodge-podge, than a pure strain, I think.

[danpress]

Kayleigh, your notes on any given topic are well done and informative. Thank you.

[MrMichaelAndrews]

Great job Kayleigh. Nice and interesting. I can't get enough.

[CharlieNyberg]

Thank You Kayleigh for another intresting video and Happy New Year!

[williamparker]

To me this is the most interesting video you've done so far. Very well researched. I'm going to need to watch it at least a couple times. Also am sharing it with some friends. Great call taking your channel this direction. In my humble opinion anyhow..

[johnkey]

I was tuning in the other day for one of your webcasts or podcasts I'm not exactly sure what they're called after all I'm an old timer but anyhow back to my original point sorry I can ramble a bit just like somebody else I know the other day when I was tuned to your channel I heard a song in the background and I thought oh that's a pretty song and then I said holy poop I believe thats Kayleigh singing that song and I listened a little bit more and I was positive that was you but I was not surprised because I have taken a collection of your videos and made a sort of mixtape of your videos and when I'm ready to sleep at night I put them on autoplay and wham I'm out within one or two shows every time it's because your voice is so warm and soothing and comfortable listen to your infectious humor so relaxing but it's almost like a narcotic oops I did it again anyway to get back to my original point you not only have a very nice talking voice and very pleasant to listen to but a very pretty singing voice thank you Kayleigh for being such a fine warm considerate human being I know you probably already are but if you're not you should be very proud of yourself you're doing a magnificent job and I think everybody will notice