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Scientists Piece Together A Skeleton Sketch Of An Ancient Human Relative Using DNA


Denisovans, ancient human cousins of Neanderthals lived in Asia for tens of thousands of years, but researchers have hardly found any fossil traces of these mysterious human species such as a pinky bone, a fractured jaw and a few teeth.

For the first time in a long time, scientists have illustrated what a Denisovan might have looked like, by creating a model of a Denisovan skeleton using genetic research.

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In an impressive feat, David Gockham, a Ph.D. student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem leveraged their ancient DNA and mapped out a proposed Denisovan skeleton using information for 32-skeletal features encoded in DNA that were extracted from a pinky bone of a female member fossil recovered in Siberia’s Denisovan Cave.

For comparison, scientists had little to no Denisovan bones. Recently, a Denisovan jaw fragment, at least 16,000 years old, was uncovered in China, but it had scientists scratching their heads as no concrete skeletal remains have yet been found for the hominin. Hence, scientists were going to discover a new group of humans based just on their DNA!

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Modern-day humans did not directly evolve from Denisovans though, neither did Neanderthals. Instead, our species interbred with both and picked up genetic markers that are still found in some populations. Considering this, the new genetic research used DNA data from two Neanderthals, five ancient and 55 present-day members of our own species, five chimps and of course, the Denisovan finger bone.

The results came out just as expected: most Denisovan traits were shared with Neanderthals, including robust jaws, a dipping forehead, a large ribcage and a wide pelvis. Reportedly, scientists identified a total of 32 traits that have clues to the Denisovan skeleton. The same method was used to speculate the physical traits of Denisovans.

Although, it is fairly possible that the artist’s renderings that added skin, eyes and hair are skeptical, the overall picture it gives of the anatomy is priceless.

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Image Credit: MAAYAN HAREL