Relative of man pictured
– We know what Neanderthals looked like. Now, thanks to ancient DNA, Israeli scientists have unveiled the appearance of another of our ancient relatives.
Very few clues exist about the lives of the Denisovans – cousins of Neanderthals who went extinct 50 000 years ago: three teeth, a pinky bone and a lower jaw. But that was enough for researchers at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem to draw conclusions on their appearance.
The mission was challenging, according to Professor Liran Carmel, one of two scientists leading the study. He and his team reconstructed the appearance of the Denisovans after examining the patterns of chemical changes in their ancient DNA. They then compared these motifs to those of the DNA of Neanderthals and modern man.
Using knowledge of human disorders in which genes lose their function for anatomical features, they explored what those differences might mean. They highlighted 56 differences between the Denisovan and modern man and/or Neanderthals. “The Denisovan is more similar to Neanderthals than to us as they are evolutionarily closer.”
Denisovan skulls were likely wider than those of modern humans, or Neanderthals, the study found, and they probably had no chins. Scientists hope the new technique will allow them to identify skulls discovered in China a few years ago and whose width indicates they may be Denisovans.
Denisovans first came to light a decade ago when a finger bone was unearthed in a cave called Denisova in Siberia. It belonged to a Denisovan girl, who died 70 000 years ago, Carmel explained.
Denisovans and Neanderthals branched off 400 000 to 500 000 years ago into two distinct lines, separate from the Homo sapiens branch of modern humans. While Neanderthals travelled from Africa to Europe, Denisovans were present in east Asia. Scientists don’t know why they became extinct, but believe some of their genome exists in modern men. –
The Denisovan is more similar to Neanderthals than to us as they are evolutionarily closer.
Liran Carmel
Israeli scientist