Excavations at the Denisova cave in Siberia have uncovered almost 80,000 stone artefacts that extinct humans left over a 150,000-year period. Collectively, they seem to show how technology developed by Denisovans evolved through the Stone Age, culminating with the production of spectacular bracelets, beads and tiaras about 50,000 years ago. Image: loronet
Read More
Cannabis may have had high origins. Where the plant comes from has been a bit of a mystery, but analysis of ancient pollen now suggests it evolved some 3 kilometres above sea level on the Tibetan Plateau. Image: migogo
Read More
Almost a decade ago, researchers sequenced DNA from an ancient bone fragment to reveal that it belonged to a woman from an entirely new group of humans. After years of waiting, we are now getting our first glimpse of the only confirmed home of the Denisovans. Imagine: Katerina Douka
Read More
Humans arrived on the Tibetan Plateau tens of thousands of years earlier than we thought. This raises the possibility that the first humans to cope with the harsh conditions there were not modern humans, but the ancient Denisovans. Image: John Olsen
Read More
Where there’s fire there’s often smoke – which might have been bad news for Neanderthals and other ancient hominins. Modern humans carry a genetic mutation that reduces our sensitivity to cancer-causing chemicals found in wood smoke. But Neanderthals and Denisovans apparently lacked the mutation. Image: jmw120
Read More
It’s not what you’ve got but how you use it. The first maps of gene expression in two of our extinct cousins flag up important differences between the activity of their genes and our own. The results suggest that brain disorders like schizophrenia and autism may be unique to us. Image: NCSSMphotos
Read More
