Fossilised finger points to previously unknown group of human relatives
Ian Sample, Guardian, 22/12/2010
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A fossilised little finger discovered in a cave in the mountains of southern Siberia belonged to a young girl from an unknown group of archaic humans, scientists say. The missing human relatives are thought to have inhabited much of Asia as recently as 30,000 years ago, and so shared the land with early modern humans and Neanderthals. The new ancestors have been named “Denisovans” after the Denisova cave in the Altai mountains of southern Siberia where the finger bone was unearthed in 2008. Field workers excavating the site have found various stone tools and bones that suggest the cave was occupied by early humans for 125,000 years. A large molar tooth, measuring around 1.5cm on each side and found at the site in 2000, also belongs to a Denisovan individual.
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