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Denisovans

Male and female Neanderthals were one of our ancestors, but recent DNA research suggests we also have a mysterious archaic human ancestor.  Credit: Gorodenkoff / Adobe Stock

DNA Study Reveals We Have a Mystery Human Ancestor

A new method for analyzing modern and archaic human DNA has thrown up some fascinating results. It appears that modern humans ( Homo Sapiens ) mated earlier and more frequently with an archaic human...
Gobekli Tepe or the “Pot-Bellied Hill”: The site where paradigms were shifted, dogma was broken and our understanding of human history changed forever. Source: mehmet / Adobe Stock

Can Gobekli Tepe Reveal Prehistoric Masonic Secrets?

Our journey begins with the Freemasons . This late sixteenth century group occupies a strange, almost mythical place in modern popular culture and, while evoking many conspiracies, the self-...
Oldupai (Olduvai) Gorge in Tanzania, one of Africa’s ‘cradles of humankind’.  Source: CC BY 2.0

Archaeological Discoveries Are Occurring Faster Than Ever

In 1924, a 3-year-old child’s skull found in South Africa forever changed how people think about human origins. The Taung Child, our first encounter with an ancient group of proto-humans or hominins...
A Neanderthal skull shows head trauma, evidence of ancient violence. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Were Other Humans the First Victims of the Sixth Mass Extinction?

Nick Longrich / The Conversation 300,000 years ago, nine human species walked the Earth. Now there’s just one. The Neanderthals, Homo neanderthalensis , were stocky hunters adapted to Europe’s cold...
The cave lion figurine found recently in Siberia’s Denisova Cave.        Source: The Siberian Times

45,000-year-old Cave Lion Figurine Uncovered At Denisova Cave

Another sensational first for the Denisovans, supporting their advanced nature. From the Siberian Times of November 20, 2019 comes news that archaeologists working within the Denisovan layer in...
Possibilities for human origins are being explored with the finds at Qesem cave Israel.            Source: ginettigino / Adobe Stock

New Shocking Clues Into Human Origins From Qesem Cave

Just one week after it was announced that the inhabitants of the Qesem Cave, located 12 kilometers east of Tel Aviv in Israel, perhaps practiced swan shamanism as much as 420,000 years ago, comes...
Ancient humans competed with fierce animals for the Denisova cave. Source: anibal / Adobe Stock.

Humans Competed with Fierce Animals for the Denisova Cave

Fossil animal droppings, charcoal from ancient fires and bone fragments litter the ground of one of the world's most important human evolution sites, new research reveals. The latest evidence from...
Cannabis plant origins traced to ancient Tibet.

Research Traces Cannabis Plant Origins to the Tibetan Plateau 28 Million Years Ago

A fascinating new study published in the journal Vegetation History and Archaeobotany , on May 14, details the work of a team of researchers from the University of Vermont who present their evidence...
Finger bone fragment containing Denisovan DNA. Source: Thilo Parg / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Did the Denisovans Walk to North America?

For a people from whom one 41,000 year old finger bone fossil from a nine year old girl, along with a bracelet she wore, were (until recently) the only authenticated known artifacts, the mysterious...
Neanderthal. Source: procy_ab / Adobe Stock

All About Neanderthals – The Surprising Facts

Current evidence suggests that Neanderthals and humans shared a last common ancestor sometime between 765,000 and 550,000 years ago. We speculate that this ancestor was H. heidelbergensis . The story...
Denisovans mated with modern humans.

Modern Humans Could Have Mated With Denisovans as Recently as 15,000 Years Ago

A study has made a startling claim. It argues that an extinct species of humans, the Denisovans , may have mated with modern humans ( Homo sapiens ) as late as 15,000 years ago. This claim is based...
Neanderthal vs human skull.

Artificial Intelligence Has Identified Previously Undetected Hominid in the Human Family Tree

By combining deep learning algorithms and statistical methods, investigators from the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE), the Centro Nacional de Análisis Genómico (CNAG-CRG) of the Centre for...
A piece of hematite found in Denisova cave was used as a crayon for art work in the cave.

Ancient Colored ‘Pencil’ Up To 50,000-Years-Old Found in Siberia

Cave-dwellers used hematite crayon for art work in Altai Mountains, say archeologists investigating a latest find in Siberia. The pre-historic artists were not Homo sapiens but Denisovans - a long-...
Map of sites and postulated migratory pathways associated with modern humans dispersing across Asia during the Late Pleistocene.

Updates on Out of Africa – Revising the Story of the Dispersal of Modern Humans Across Eurasia

Most people are now familiar with the traditional "Out of Africa" model: modern humans evolved in Africa and then dispersed across Asia and reached Australia in a single wave about 60,000 years ago...
Denisova cave, some 150 km (93 mi) south of the city of Barnaul, is the only source of Denisovan's remains. Pictures: The Siberian Times

Extinct Denisovans from Siberia Made Stunning Jewelry. Did They Also Discover Australia?

By Siberia Times Reporter, Olga Gertcyk The distance from the only currently known home of the Denisovans in Altai region to the nearest point of Australia is roughly akin to the length of the Trans-...
Vindija Cave in Croatia where Neanderthal DNA was found in cave sediment

DNA Can Now be Extracted from Dirt! New Tech May Solve Many Mysteries of Human Origins

An amazing technological innovation in the study of DNA has been called a ‘game changer’ in the research into ancient humans and hominids. It may solve many of the mysteries that exist in relation to...
Ancient Skulls Found in China Could Belong to an Unidentified Human Species

Ancient Skulls Found in China Could Belong to an Unidentified Human Species

A team of scientists has discovered two partial human skulls in central China that could possibly belong to an unspecified archaic human species. The skulls are 105,000 to 125,000 years old, and they...
Evidence of Unknown Extinct Human Relative Found in DNA Study of Melanesians

Evidence of Unknown Extinct Human Relative Found in DNA Study of Melanesians

Traces of long-lost human cousins may be hiding in modern people’s DNA, a new computer analysis suggests. People from Melanesia, a region in the South Pacific encompassing Papua New Guinea and...
Neanderthal

Ancient Human History More Complex Than Previously Thought, Researchers Say

Relationships between the ancestors of modern humans and other archaic populations such as Neanderthals and Denisovans were likely more complex than previously thought, involving interbreeding within...
Ancient Jewelers: Scientists Confirm Body Ornamentation Belonged to Neanderthals

Ancient Jewelers: Scientists Confirm Body Ornamentation Belonged to Neanderthals

Researchers from the University of York have helped to solve an archaeological dispute -- confirming that Neanderthals were responsible for producing tools and artifacts previously argued by some to...
A model of the face of an adult female Homo erectus. Reconstruction by John Gurche, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

Scientists Say A Mystery Species Bred with Ancient Humans in Distant Past

A new study of the genomes of Australasians has revealed sections of DNA that do not match any known hominin species. The dramatic findings mean that a mystery species bred with ancient humans in the...
A reconstructed Neanderthal skeleton, right, is displayed next to a modern human skeleton at the Museum of Natural History in New York.

Neanderthals Mated with Modern Humans Much Earlier than Previously Thought, Study Finds

Using several different methods of DNA analysis, an international research team has found what they consider to be strong evidence of an interbreeding event between Neanderthals and modern humans...
Denisova Cave, Russia. Inset: Denisovan molar discovered in Denisova Cave, Replica in Museum of Natural Sciences in Brussels, Belgium.

DNA from Ancient Denisovan Tooth Sheds Light on Mysterious Human Relative

The Denisovans are a mysterious hominid species that we only know about from two molar teeth and the bone of a pinky finger discovered in the remote Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains of Siberia...
Artist’s depiction of ancient hominids.

How Ancient Hominid Interbreeding has Shaped Humans Today

Over the past half-decade, ancient DNA research has revealed some surprising aspects to our evolutionary history during the past 50,000 years. Perhaps the most startling of these has been the extent...

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