Fossil trove sheds new light on Denisovans

A collection of fossils and artefacts recovered from an abandoned quarry in southwestern China has given researchers an unprecedented glimpse into the lives of ancient humans called Denisovans. The items suggest that Denisovans — who lived at the site for at least 30,000 years — crafted bone tools similar to those of the Neanderthals, and were skilled hunters of animals such as deer. “This site’s the full package,” says archaeologist Ben Marwick. “It’s the first site that we have with a long, rich sequence that’s uniquely associated with Denisovans.”

Did Neanderthals roam as far as Arabia?

An analysis of stone tools thought to have been crafted by Neanderthals suggests that the ancient humans might have roamed as far south as the Arabian Peninsula around 55,000 years ago. The artefacts come from a site beside an ancient lake in what is now Saudi Arabia’s Nefud Desert. The characteristics of the tools, and efforts to date the sand of the site, suggest that Neanderthals might have lived there just as the area was shifting from desert to a wetter environment — which could have drawn animals, and the humans who hunted them, further south.

Did Homo erectus and Denisovans mate? Tooth proteins hint at ancient trysts

Ancient proteins extracted from the teeth of Homo erectus individuals that lived in China suggest that the group might have interbred with Denisovans, another archaic human species. Researchers used enamel proteins from six H. erectus individuals and identified an amino-acid variant that’s previously been seen in Denisovans. The group also identified two amino-acid sequence variants shared by all six individuals that set H. erectus apart from humans and other human relatives — something that has proved hard to find in the past.

Roman Empire’s collapse created a genetic melting pot in Europe

An analysis of ancient genomes from hundreds of burials in southern Germany reveal that the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages was more complex than the stereotype of northern ‘barbarians’ running roughshod over a Roman Empire in decline. Instead, the genomes point to gradual genetic and cultural shifts that occurred through small-scale migration and intermarriage. Shared patterns of DNA show that northern Europeans “haven’t arrived as mass invaders or hordes or big clans — these are individual families who are already four or five generations on Roman territory”, says population geneticist and anthropologist Joachim Burger, who co-authored the analysis. They probably saw themselves as Romans, he adds.

Human evolution sped up after farming

An analysis of DNA evidence from more than 15,000 ancient humans has revealed that human evolution has accelerated over the past 10,000 years. Researchers identified almost 500 gene variants that evolved through natural selection in ancient European and Middle-Eastern people after the dawn of agriculture. Many of those variants are linked to the resistance to diseases, such as tuberculosis. Accelerated evolution could reflect the intensification of lifestyle changes that started in the Neolithic period, such as new foods and pathogens, says population geneticist David Reich.

Neanderthal dad, Sapiens mum: study reveals ancient procreation pattern

Genetic evidence from three Neanderthal (Homo neanderthalensis) specimens suggests female Homo sapiens and male Neanderthals mated more often than did male H. sapiens and female Neanderthals — an imbalance that helped to shape the human genome. Researchers found that the X chromosomes from the specimens had, on average, 62% more sapiens DNA than non-sex chromosomes, which could be explained by a bias in mating. The bias could have been down to mate availability or cultural sanctions for certain combinations, says population geneticist Sohini Ramachandran.

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Here's a hint for these geneticists from anthropology: In tribal warfare, the victors kill the men and absorb the women into their tribe.

Neanderthals mastered fire — 400,000 years ago

Baked soil, ancient tools and materials that could be used to start fires show that Neanderthals were making fire in the UK 400,000 years ago — the earliest evidence of this skill found so far. Ancient humans are known to have used naturally occurring fires, but evidence of deliberate fire-starting has been hard to come by. A new suite of evidence pushes back the date of fire mastery by 350,000 years. The team behind the finding believes it helps create a more nuanced picture of Neanderthals, who perhaps gathered round fires and told stories in ancient Europe.

1.5 million-year-old stone tools from mystery human relative discovered in Indonesia

Stone tools found on Sulawesi in Indonesia suggest that ancient hominins occupied the island around 1 million years ago — much earlier than we thought. The small tools were probably created using a percussion-flaking technique, in which a rock is struck with another stone to create sharp edges. Without fossils, researchers can’t tell exactly which early human species made them, but Homo erectus is a potential candidate.

Neanderthals boiled bones in ‘fat factories’ to enrich their lean diet

Archæologists have uncovered evidence that Neanderthals rendered fat from bones 125,000 years ago — 100,000 years earlier than oldest known fat rendering by modern humans. Thousands of bone fragments and other remains from Neumark-Nord in Germany suggest a large-scale operation in which animals were purposely transported to the area.

First ever skull from ‘Denisovan’ reveals what ancient people looked like

Ancient proteins and mitochondrial DNA extracted from the ‘Dragon Man’ fossil — a cranium found in northeastern China that is at least 146,000 years old — have confirmed that it belonged to a Denisovan, an archaic human group. The fossil is the first skull to be definitively linked to the group, which sheds light on what the ancient people looked like, putting an end to decade-long speculation.

Early Neanderthal Art Discovered

A close examination of the red ochre dot on this stone, unearthed from the San Lázaro rock-shelter in Spain, revealed that the mark was made by a human finger. This raises the tantalising prospect that a Neanderthal maybe, just maybe, meant the dot to represent a nose (the rock, say researchers, does indeed look like a face in person). “It could represent one of the earliest human facial symbolisations in Prehistory,” write the team that made the discovery.

Who were the ancient Denisovans? Fossils reveal secrets about the mysterious humans

In 2008, a tiny fingertip rewrote human history when DNA sequencing revealed that it belonged to a previously unknown group of hominins: Denisovans. Further research revealed that they interbred with modern humans and were once widespread across Asia. In the past few years, more fossils have emerged that are helping to flesh out who Denisovans were and how exactly they fit into our family tree.

Mysterious Taiwan fossil is Denisovan

A fossilised jawbone discovered more than 20 years ago belonged to an ancient group of humans called Denisovans. Named Penghu 1, the jawbone was dredged up by fishing crews 25 kilometres off the west coast of Taiwan. The confirmation that the bone belonged to a Denisovan — the result of more than two years of work to extract ancient proteins from the fossil — expands the known geographical range of the group, from colder, high-altitude regions to warmer climates.

Ancient humans used bone tools one million years earlier than thought

Bone tools discovered in Tanzania reveal that ancient humans consistently used such tools at least one million years earlier than we thought. The previous estimate put the earliest use of bone tools at around 400,000 years ago. The new findings smash that record, dating the implements to around 1.5 million years ago. The utensils were crafted from elephant, hippopotamus and bovine bones, and were probably used for tasks such as butchering and digging out tubers.

Neanderthals and sapiens interbred more recently than previously thought

All people, other than those whose ancestry comes solely from sub-Saharan Africa, have some Neanderthal DNA. Now two studies suggest that it entered our genomes virtually overnight, much more recently than was thought. One study finds that modern humans and Neanderthals interbred in a roughly 7,000-year period starting around 50,500 years ago; the other finds that the mixing took place between 45,000 and 49,000 years ago. The results and other insights come in part from the oldest human genomes ever sequenced: a male Homo sapiens found near Ranis, Germany, and a female Homo sapiens whose remains were discovered in a cave at a site called Zlatý kůň in the Czech Republic.

Two ancient human relatives crossed paths 1.5 million years ago

Some 1.5 million years ago, two ancient hominin species crossed paths on a lake shore in Kenya. Their footprints in the mud were frozen in time and lay undiscovered until 2021. Now, analysis of the impressions reveals that they belonged to Homo erectus, a forebear of modern humans, and the more distant relative Paranthropus boisei. The two individuals walked through the lake area within hours or days of each other — leaving the first direct record of different archaic hominin species coexisting in the same place.

Rapa Nui’s population 'crash' debunked by ancient DNA

A study of ancient genomes has dispelled the theory that early inhabitants of Rapa Nui (also known as Easter Island) ravaged its ecosystem and caused the population to crash. Researchers analysed the DNA of ancient and modern Rapa Nui individuals and found no sign of a ‘population bottleneck’ that would have indicated a collapse. Genomes from ancient Rapa Nui people are predominantly of ancestries similar to those of other Pacific islanders, but around 10% of their genetic material can be traced to ancestors from coastal areas of what is now called South America. The findings suggest that Rapa Nui people made contact with people from these regions hundreds of years before Europeans first visited the island.

Denisovans’ survival secrets revealed

The enigmatic ancient humans known as Denisovans hunted marmots, eagles and even hyenas to thrive high on the Tibetan plateau for well over 100,000 years. “It’s at high altitude. It’s cold. It’s not a nice place to be as a hominin,” says archaeologist Frido Welker, one of the researchers who analysed thousands of animal bone fragments from a cave in northern China.

Neanderthal–human baby-making was recent — and brief

Mixing between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens lasted less than 7,000 years — a remarkably short time considering that almost every living individual not of African ancestry carries a substantial amount of Neanderthal DNA. Researchers compared the genomes of individuals who lived between 2,200 and 45,000 years ago with those of modern people and found that the genetic intermingling started around 47,000 years ago. It ended around the time when Neanderthals went extinct.

Mediæval graves reveal secrets of the Avars

DNA has been extracted from ancient graves in four cemeteries in Hungary that were once at the heart of a mysterious nomadic culture. The Avars were nomadic people who migrated to eastern and central Europe from the late sixth century to the early ninth century. The researchers analysed genomes from 424 individuals using computational techniques to connect distant family members through their shared DNA, including a nine-generation family tree. The data suggest that the Avars kept aspects of their cultural heritage from the Asian steppes, such as very strict rules against inbreeding.