July
25
/ 2019
A dental trait found in the Xiahe Denisovan jawbone as well as in some ancient and modern human populations now provides a rare opportunity to track the geographical reach and perhaps even the final fate of the Denisovans. Confirmation of the discovery of the first Denisovan mandible (lower jawbone), found as far back as 1980 in a cave in Xiahe County, on the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau in China’s Ganzu Province, might now provide the key to understanding the geographical reach and perhaps even the final frontiers of this enigmatic pre-sapiens population. This follows the publication of a new study focusing on the mandible’s surviving teeth. The study, headed by Shara E. Bailey, Associate Professor of Anthropology with
