A late Middle Pleistocene Denisovan mandible from the Tibetan Plateau

Fahu Chen (), Frido Welker, Chuan-Chou Shen, Shara E. Bailey, Inga Bergmann, Simon Davis, Huan Xia, Hui Wang, Roman Fischer, Sarah E. Freidline, Tsai-Luen Yu, Matthew M. Skinner, Stefanie Stelzer, Guangrong Dong, Qiaomei Fu, Guanghui Dong, Jian Wang, Dongju Zhang () and Jean-Jacques Hublin ()
Additional contact information
Fahu Chen: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Frido Welker: Lanzhou University
Chuan-Chou Shen: National Taiwan University
Shara E. Bailey: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Inga Bergmann: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Simon Davis: University of Oxford
Huan Xia: Lanzhou University
Hui Wang: Fudan University
Roman Fischer: University of Oxford
Sarah E. Freidline: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Tsai-Luen Yu: National Taiwan University
Matthew M. Skinner: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Stefanie Stelzer: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Guangrong Dong: Lanzhou University
Qiaomei Fu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Guanghui Dong: Lanzhou University
Jian Wang: Lanzhou University
Dongju Zhang: Lanzhou University
Jean-Jacques Hublin: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Nature, 2019, vol. 569, issue 7756, 409-412

Abstract: Abstract Denisovans are members of a hominin group who are currently only known directly from fragmentary fossils, the genomes of which have been studied from a single site, Denisova Cave1–3 in Siberia. They are also known indirectly from their genetic legacy through gene flow into several low-altitude East Asian populations4,5 and high-altitude modern Tibetans6. The lack of morphologically informative Denisovan fossils hinders our ability to connect geographically and temporally dispersed fossil hominins from Asia and to understand in a coherent manner their relation to recent Asian populations. This includes understanding the genetic adaptation of humans to the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau7,8, which was inherited from the Denisovans. Here we report a Denisovan mandible, identified by ancient protein analysis9,10, found on the Tibetan Plateau in Baishiya Karst Cave, Xiahe, Gansu, China. We determine the mandible to be at least 160 thousand years old through U-series dating of an adhering carbonate matrix. The Xiahe specimen provides direct evidence of the Denisovans outside the Altai Mountains and its analysis unique insights into Denisovan mandibular and dental morphology. Our results indicate that archaic hominins occupied the Tibetan Plateau in the Middle Pleistocene epoch and successfully adapted to high-altitude hypoxic environments long before the regional arrival of modern Homo sapiens.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1139-x

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