Historic New Archaeological Discovery Solves Denisovan Mystery

Historic New Archaeological Discovery Solves Denisovan Mystery. Denisovans were one of the most successful human species to ever live. For over 300,000 years they dominated Asia, in a region characterized by freezing temperatures and high mountains. Incredibly, they are known to have lived at elevations of over 13,000 feet or 4,000 meters even during the coldest of ice ages. The high mountains of Asia are really unknown, because investigators usually just assumed nobody lived there. However, New discoveries have piqued other researchers' curiosity about what else may be hiding at high elevations. In fact, the past climate was even colder than today, so it is even more surprising there were any humans living at such high elevations of western China and Tibet.

While Neanderthals preferred the warmer temperate forests and grasslands of the southwest, Denisovans were much better adapted to colder environments, such as boreal forests and tundra regions in northeastern Eurasia, including the high plateaus of western China and Tibet. Meanwhile, according to a new study Denisovans and Neanderthals would have had a high probability of contact in the Siberian Altai Mountains during relatively warm periods. Southern Siberia is one of the regions predicted for Neanderthal-Denisovan niche overlap. For example, The 90,000 year-old hominin named 'Denny', who was identified as the daughter of a Denisovan father and a Neanderthal mother, demonstrates the possibility that interbreeding was common among early human populations. These hominins lived in Denisova cave about 1,500 miles north of the only other confirmed Denisovan fossil discovery.

CHAPTERS:
0:00 The Siberian Denisovan Mystery
4:00 Denisovans in the Himalayas
8:00 Denisovan High Altitude Adaption

[TongoMark-bogj]

I'm from Papua New Guinea and I just want to say thank you for the video documentary

[jesseawen]

I am from New Guinea, and we are Melenasians. Meaning island of the blacks. We are just like the Australian Aboriginals though some difference biologically. We are natives to our lands. So, when Africans always try to claim us we tell them that we are not from Africa and our closest cousins are Asians. When leaving the out of Africa theory aside. If you say we are from Africa, then it also means the Asians are from Africa, too. So we were always here, and Asia was our point of migration just like the Natives of the America continents. Since most of our oral history in the pacific especially says we came from the West, from Asia. We have the Denisovans' DNA.

[Stonefeather]

Mind you we hear mostly from extreme cold and high altitude places of these humans but that is only because in warmer lusher regions no remains survived. Most likely in lowlands and tropics there was a higher population density of Denisovans.

[cssktsd]

Hello to my Denisovan ancestors! I am your Tibetan descendant!

[gescheharm]

I have always been sad and sorry for the Neanderthals leaving without a trace. So I was very happy when Svante Pääbo discovered that us Europeans bear some traces of these ancestors as well. How much more interesting it is to think of other Hominines contributing to our genepool.

[gordonstewart]

Kids behaving like kid200, 00 years ago. That makes me feel connected to the far past!

[Clearlight]

The thing that surprises me the most is not the extreme cold or the very high altitude these Denisovans must have adapted to, but what they must have been eating! I'm sure they must have domesticated or semi-domesticated some large animal such as the Yak from which they could obtain food, fuel, milk, clothing. Otherwise it's hard to see them surviving by hunting or gathering at those altitudes.

[JamesComstockCages]

Neanderthal and Denisovans probably didn't know they were different species.

[chetcarman]

Congratulations on reaching new levels of accuracy! Thar cover pic of the gorgeous woman with stunning, almost Western/Latina features & bone structure, perfect makeup & shampooed salon-cut hair is the best example of early hominin I've ever seen. There's no doubt the Denisovans looked exactly like that! ❤💯👌👍

[cinemaipswich]

I managed to get to 6, 000 metres, over a 60 day period, and even then it was not long enough for my body to adapt. It took me 6 days to get back to Pokhara in Nepal.

[vincentcalderone]

wow, really interesting. I've always been fascinated by how long people lived in Asia

[okbrstq]

While we will never fully know the history of modern humans, we can only base conclusions on the scientific evidence. As a Native American descendant, I do believe the Americas have an older history than what we currently understand. Our understanding of human history is changing every day. Speculation is not fact but that doesn’t mean it is not important to different populations.

[bkbpyym]

I don’t know if Irish ancestry has anything to do with it but my daughter in law, an attractive redhead tested at 6% Neanderthal. I read that they may have had reddish hair - maybe redheads are a vestige population (?)

[alexbowman]

Perhaps one day a defrosting Denisovan body will be found in the Siberian permafrost and it will have upwards pointing ears.

[kilipakioritahiti]

As indigenous Filipino (99.99% Ilonggo), I, like all Austronesians inlc. Polynesians, have Denisovan ancestry/DNA. It’s only us and Melanesians/Papuans and Australian Aboriginals who has Denisovan in “Asia”. The highest concentration of Denisovan DNA are found in the Philippines among the Ati/Aeta and Negrito tribes who are neither Filipino or Austronesian.

[MungoManic]

Those handprints are amazing! I wish there'd be some adult ones too. Would be fascinating to see how they compare to modern human sizes

[loganskiwyse]

We know less than 3% of the populations of peoples that make up the hominid wellspring. The vast majority left no fossils and only now are we finding their DNA in various populations. When you look at the actual depth of time involved there is so much more to find, so much more hidden in the oceans and mountain peaks. Even the Islands have populations that we never knew about before. I think it would be vary rash to presume that they were the first species in the Alps or that any of our current firsts are first at anything at all.

[punditgi]

Utterly fascinating story. Many thanks for this video! 🎉😊

[janetbayford]

All humans have the same origin in the distant past. What a pity we don’t focus on our common heritage instead of trying to differentiate ourselves. This is what causes conflict.

[j.s.c.]

If that woman in the thumbnail was what denisovans looked like, they were the most beautiful human species ever to walk the Earth.