Denisovan man and other human ancestors. Neanderthals, Denisovans and modern humans met, communicated and left offspring tens of thousands of years ago. From the KP dossier
The season of public lectures at ICG continues. And quite recently, at another of them, a leading researcher in the inter-institutional sector of molecular paleogenetics, Ph.D. Alexander Pilipenko told what's new in this scientific field.
Today, a large amount of data has been accumulated about human ancestors, but science still has many more questions than answers already received. It is known that the cradle of humanity is Africa; it is here that all the early representatives of the genus Homo were formed. And at least twice, even before the appearance of Homo sapiens, representatives of earlier species (forms of Homo erectus) left this continent and settled around the planet.
The first migration wave took place about one and a half million years ago, its archaeological sites have been found throughout Asia and in some places in Europe. The second wave happened about a million years later: then human ancestors managed to move further north and colonize a noticeable part of continental Europe.
Over the millennia, the descendants of these “migrants” continued to evolve outside of Africa, giving rise to new varieties of the ancestors of modern humans. In particular, this is how Neanderthals appeared on European territory, and similar processes took place in Asia.
And then, about 200 thousand years ago, a person of a modern anatomical type - Homo sapiens - finally appeared on the historical stage. There are two main hypotheses about how this happened. The hypothesis of recent African origin states that the entire process took place on the territory of the Dark Continent, after leaving which, man displaced other forms of hominids without mixing with them. The second - the hypothesis of multiregional origin - proceeds from the fact that there was a parallel evolution of different groups of hominids, which led to the formation of different territorial groups of anatomically modern humans.
And here geneticists joined the debate between anthropologists and archaeologists. The data from the first genetic studies were in favor of the first hypothesis. But then paleogeneticists managed to sequence the Neanderthal genome and establish that 1-3% of its genes are shared by all modern people. In other words, there is a little bit of Neanderthal in each of us. Which, of course, became a powerful argument in favor of the second hypothesis. Significant, but not conclusive, due to which it is still a hypothesis and not a clearly established fact.
“The most complete Neanderthal genome that has been extracted to date was obtained from the bone of the famous Denisovskaya Cave,” recalled Alexander Pilipenko. – Although there were doubts whether it is typical of all Neanderthals or only of the eastern group.
In the same already famous cave, another species of prehistoric man was discovered - the so-called. Denisovan man, whose genome scientists also managed to sequence. The species turned out to be, although related to Neanderthals, still quite independent. And also contributed to the genotype of modern humans. It manifested itself most clearly in the population of Oceania (up to 5-6% of the genome).
This is roughly what our ideas about human evolution looked like two years ago, the speaker noted, and suggested considering what has changed during this time. And a lot of interesting things happened.
The first thing new research has called into question is the date of the origin of anatomically modern humans. Last year, an article was published about a study of the genomes of the bone remains of indigenous African natives (aka Bushmen). We were talking about relatively recent finds, whose age did not exceed 2000 years. But this sequencing made it possible to “cleanse” the ancient human genome of “Eurasian impurities.” And the study of this “purified” genome, in turn, allows scientists to significantly postpone the date of human origin: from 200 to 300-350 thousand years ago. In the same year, the data of paleogeneticists was confirmed by archaeologists by independent dating of the remains of ancient humans (five individuals) and their tools found in Morocco.
– Today, active study continues of the array of ancient human remains found in the first half of the twentieth century in Africa. There were a lot of them, they were all poorly dated, and the excavation technology left much to be desired. So there is still a lot of work to be done there and it can yield interesting results,” Pilipenko concluded.
Not everything is so clear with the end date of the “African childhood” of anatomically modern man. During this period, his life took place exclusively in Africa. For a long time it was believed that it ended about 60 thousand years ago. But back in the 1930s, sites of ancient people were excavated on the territory of Israel (in the Skul and Kavzeh caves). The remains found there are dated to 80-120 thousand years old, which is significantly older than the established border of human migration outside Africa. And a few months ago, the results of dating the remains found at the third site, adjacent to the first two, were announced. Their age was 180 thousand years. Moreover, none of the scientists disputed the belonging of these bones to the species Homo sapiens. The debate is now on a different issue: whether people lived in this part of the Middle East continuously over these millennia (which means we are significantly shifting the boundary of human exit from Africa), or whether these were short-term random migrations that did not change the picture as a whole. Scientists from the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who have accumulated extensive experience in studying Paleolithic monuments in the Denisovskaya Cave and its environs, joined the study of these caves.
The findings of Chinese archaeological expeditions caused an even greater resonance. On the territory of their country, they found a monument related to anatomically modern people, 90-100 thousand years old. This find (unlike the Israeli ones) was considered controversial for a relatively long time. But after conducting a series of independent dating, the Chinese managed to convince at least the journal Science, where the corresponding article was published, that they were right.
“This may mean that we are not talking about some isolated outbursts of people into the adjacent territories, we are dealing with a large-scale migration that has reached Southeast Asia,” noted Alexander Pilipenko.
As a result, it is now proposed to move to a model of two large migration waves, the first was 80-120 thousand years ago, and the second 30-60 thousand years ago. The first went exclusively to the east and led to the settlement of Asia. The second wave affected both Asian and European territories. She “brought” to us the genes of Neanderthals.
It must be remembered that the studies described above do not change the existing picture of the migrations of Homo erectus, which preceded these waves and, in fact, gave rise to the Neanderthals and Denisovans. In Europe, further events were, from an evolutionary point of view, relatively boring: Neanderthals lived for thousands of years without changing much, and then, about 40 thousand years ago, the ancestors of modern humans came and in a couple of thousand years completely replaced them, having managed to mix a little during the process .
In Asia, everything was a little more varied. And the most confusing picture emerges in its northern part, in particular in Altai, where Denisovans were actively involved in the processes of interaction between Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals. In particular, there is evidence of the coexistence of Neanderthals and Denisovans, but material traces of modern humans appear much later. But genetic traces of the interaction of all three species remained. And the question of the time of the arrival of anatomically modern humans in Western Siberia (as well as the disappearance of Denisovans and Neanderthals from it) remains open. But in East Asia there is no evidence of the existence of the latter two species.
Meanwhile, research over the past two years has been able to push back the time frame of residence of human ancestors in the Denisovskaya Cave by almost 100 thousand years ago. True, the question remains how continuous the Denisovans’ presence in those areas was. However, it turns out that they could interact with both waves of Homo sapiens migration if they reached Altai at the indicated time.
“Unfortunately, the genetic remains of Denisovans have not yet been found anywhere else outside the cave, and it is difficult to look for anthropological traces, since we do not know their appearance well, too few bone remains have been found,” the speaker emphasized.
And this circumstance significantly complicates the process of studying this species of ancient man, the ways of its settlement and interaction with other hominids. But the presence of Denisovan genes in modern human populations suggests that such processes took place. For example, it is their influence that explains the presence of genetic mechanisms of adaptation to high mountain conditions among modern Tibetans.
So archaeologists and paleogeneticists have a lot of work to do before we get a holistic and consistent picture of human settlement in the eastern part of Eurasia. This can be helped by new mechanisms for working with whole-genome data that are currently being created, which are aimed not so much at sequencing ancient genomes, but at a more thorough search and analysis of their “traces” in the genome of modern people. The first works based on such new algorithms were published this year. And again, these results, answering some questions, raise even more new ones that are still waiting for their researchers.
Natalya Timakova
Illustrations presented at the lecture by A.S. were used in the design of the material. Pilipenko
More than 20 archaeological cultural layers of the Denisova Cave preserve the ancient history of North Asia - from the Early Paleolithic to the Middle Ages
We drove for a long time, leaving hundreds of kilometers behind: an important archaeological site is located far from large settlements and good roads. The last part of the path generally went along a mountain serpentine road. But no matter how tired we were by the end of the trip, our reward was the incredible beauty of Altai - mountains, raging rivers and the vast sky. And, of course, the air, which absorbed the smell of pine nuts, resin and honey. We overcame these distances to see with our own eyes a unique artifact - the oldest bone needle, which was recently found in Denisova Cave by scientists from the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and to ask the director of the institute, Doctor of Historical Sciences, about it Mikhail Vasilievich Shunkov.
Of course, the conversation was not limited to discussing an important find - people living in these parts think in different categories, they are not afraid to pose global questions and painstakingly, year after year, search for answers to them.
-Mikhail Vasilyevich, the reason for our visit was the most ancient needle, which everyone is talking about now.
The found needle is the oldest and largest item of its kind known in world archeology today. This find suggests that the culture of the ancient inhabitants of the Denisova Cave was at a fairly high level of development and was in no way inferior to the culture of Homo sapiens.
- When was Denisova Cave discovered? And why did it become the subject of archaeological research?
This cave was discovered as an archaeological site in 1977, when academician Alexey Pavlovich Okladnikov sent a small detachment here. Of course, the cave was known before this. It was even described by the artist N.K. Roerich, when he traveled with his wife and son in Altai in 1926. But also other expeditions of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. visited this cave. Mostly scientists from Tomsk University worked here. After the formation of the first Siberian University, Altai began to be actively studied by geographers and geologists - V.V. Sapozhnikov, rector of Tomsk University, brothers B.V. and M.V. Tronovs. They studied Altai comprehensively, including caves. that is, it has been known in science for a long time.
It should be noted that caves are one of the most complex archaeological sites. In order to conduct research in them, a special approach is needed. In 1977 A.P. Okladnikov, the first director of our institute, organized a small expedition here led by paleontologist N.D. Ovodov. This is one of the oldest employees of our institute. He is now alive, healthy and working productively. Nikolai Dmitrievich laid two pits. And with one hole he went through all the sediments in the center of the cave. It turned out that the cave contains many cultural layers of primitive man from different eras. It became clear that a new, very interesting object had been discovered. But it did not immediately become clear that this was serious, long-term and required a lot of organizational work.
- That is, permanent excavations did not begin immediately?
Systematic excavations began in 1982. First, under the leadership of Academician V.I. Molodin uncovered the upper part of the cave deposits, the Holocene strata, that is, those cultural layers that are no older than 10 thousand years. This is Vyacheslav Ivanovich’s area of interest - the Middle Ages, the early Iron Age, the Bronze Age and the Neolithic. After this, excavations began on the underlying horizons, which are already older than 10 thousand years. And they continue to this day. Our main focus is on the most ancient stage of human history - the Paleolithic era. Excavations have shown that the chronological period that we are studying in the cave is from 280 thousand to 10 thousand years.
- You said that there are other caves around. Why are excavations concentrated here?
Denisova Cave is a unique object in Russian archeology; there is no second one like it in Russia and in general in the entire post-Soviet space. Cultures ranging from the early stage of the Middle Paleolithic to the Middle Ages are collected here. It is very important that on one site, in one geological section, we can trace the evolution of cultures, the transition from one stage to another.
- What period are the discoveries associated with, which everyone calls sensational?
I don’t like this word, but there’s probably no other way to call them. These finds are associated with the transition from the Middle Paleolithic era, the era of the Neanderthals, to the Upper Paleolithic, which is traditionally associated with anatomically modern humans - Homo Sapiens. Excavations have been ongoing in Denisova Cave for more than 25 years. And the finds from the middle part of the cave section have always attracted the greatest interest. In our nomenclature, this is stratigraphic layer 11. This is a layer that characterizes a new stage in the history of mankind - the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. It has always received special attention from archaeologists, because it is a change of cultures. The formation of man with a modern physical appearance is associated with the culture of the initial stage of the Upper Paleolithic. It has always been believed that Neanderthal was the bearer of the Mousterian (Middle Paleolithic) culture. Then Homo Sapiens came and brought a new culture of the Upper Paleolithic. And from that time began the history of man with a modern physical appearance. Man began not only to make tools from stone, but also to widely use bone. Burials, primitive art, rock paintings, etc. appeared.
- By the way, is there rock art in Denisova Cave?
Unfortunately no. On the territory of Russia, only two caves are known in the Southern Urals - Kapova (Shulgan-Tash) and Ignatievskaya, where the picturesque activity of primitive man was discovered. Europeans traditionally believed that the center of the most ancient “civilization” was southwestern France and northern Spain, because cave paintings were discovered there, and this is the highest creative and intellectual achievement of primitive man. We have not found Paleolithic rock art in Altai, but the culture of the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic, imprinted primarily in stone tools, is quite clearly represented not only in the Denisova Cave, but also in open-type monuments that were found in the vicinity of the Denisova Cave, in the valley of the Anui River . In addition to the cave, we will also explore other objects here, less known, but no less significant for us. Sets of stone tools were found there, which in their appearance are very close to the stone tools characteristic of the sites of Western Europe from the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. This is the so-called Aurignacian culture in Europe. Aurignacoid forms of tools were also discovered here in Altai. An interesting problem has arisen - the correlation of our Siberian, Altai materials and Western European, as well as Paleolithic products from Western Asia and the Middle East. There are a lot of analogies and parallels both in stone tools and in various decorations.
- Do scientists still believe that Homo Sapiens appeared in Africa and then began to populate Europe?
Homo Sapiens came to Europe from Africa, where it formed about 200 thousand years ago. In the chronological interval 80-60 thousand years ago, it penetrated into the Middle East, then began to populate Europe. He brought with him a new culture. But the exact place where this culture originated was not established. Certain parallels were drawn with Western Asia, with the Zagros, in the territory of Iraq and Iran. There, the most ancient tools of the Aurignacian type were found in caves. But then, in the course of our research, it turned out that the finds of the initial stage of the Upper Paleolithic from the Denisova Cave are not inferior in age to European ones, and may be older than European ones... And here an intrigue arose: the cultural manifestations that we recorded in Altai are dated back to about 50 thousand years This is almost 10 thousand years older than in Western Europe. Indeed, we have a unique culture, technologically and cognitively advanced. Various decorations made from animal teeth and ostrich egg shells have been found. This material was imported to us from Mongolia or Transbaikalia. This is also a characteristic feature of the behavior of a person with a modern physical appearance. We could not even imagine that the discoveries of recent years would change this whole picture so much. In 2008, we discovered a phalanx of a girl’s finger in Denisova Cave. Now she is widely known, even famous. The scientific director of our institute, Academician Anatoly Panteleevich Derevyanko, sent this phalanx to the famous paleogeneticist Professor Svante Pääbo at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig. And a very interesting result was obtained. Firstly, it turned out that the anthropological remains from Denisova Cave are extremely well preserved in paleogenetic terms. Secondly, the sequenced genome from this sample showed that it does not belong to a Neanderthal or Homo Sapiens, but to a completely new ancient population, previously unknown to science.
- Was it a shock?
Of course, shock, even shock. We could assume anything, but not that some special type of hominin lived in our Altai. Or subspecies is a special question. Let anthropologists decide, we will listen to them carefully and draw our conclusions. But the fact that this is a completely new ancient population unknown to science has become obvious. And then many things fell into place. As archaeologists we have seen that in its manifestations this culture must belong to Homo Sapiens.
- Do you have any specific finds in mind?
We then found a chloritolite bracelet. This is a rare stone, and not local. Its location has been established - Rudny Altai, 250 km west of Denisova Cave. The stone is not just beautiful, depending on the lighting it changes its color. This is clearly an exclusive product that belonged to a person with a certain status in society. Traceological examination showed that the decoration was composite, with a hole made in it. We assumed that there was a ring attached to it on the leather strap. Two years later, our hypothesis was confirmed - we found a marble ring. But the most important thing is the technical techniques that were used in the manufacture of these items. Pebbles were taken as a basis and polished. It was given a flat shape. Then a hole was drilled in the middle. Then it was expanded with a rasp type tool. And an object in the shape of a ring or bracelet was formed. Then it was polished, etc. Taken together, all these techniques used by ancient man have been known to science since the end of the Upper Paleolithic era - no older than 20 thousand years. And their mass use dates back to the Neolithic era, after 8 thousand years. The bracelet and ring were discovered in a layer that is older than 40 thousand years. It is now dated between 40 and 50 thousand years ago. At first we thought that this was the work of Homo Sapiens, who already possessed quite complex technologies. In addition, bone needles with an eye were found. And this year we discovered a needle about 8 cm long. There is no analogue to it. In size, it is twice as large as similar items known not only here, but also at other sites of the early Upper Paleolithic. The point is not that we found the largest needle, but the use of advanced technology. I repeat: this man was not inferior in his skills to Homo Sapiens - that’s what’s important.
- But at the same time he was not Homo Sapiens?
It turned out that this is a completely new population, which with the light hand of A.P. Derevianko was named Homo sapiens altatensis (Altai Homo sapiens). Or according to the place of discovery - Denisovan man, Denisovan. Just like Neanderthal got its name from Neanderthal Valley. The name has become quite firmly established in scientific literature, popular literature, and the mass media. Now we already know for sure that Denisovan man lived in the cave for quite a long time. We can say with absolute confidence that the human culture of the Upper Paleolithic was not brought to the south of Siberia from Africa, Europe or other territories. It was formed on a local basis.
What is the importance of a single section - under layer 11 with the remains of the Early Upper Paleolithic, where a bracelet, bone needles, various jewelry, and Aurignacoid stone tools were found, lies the thickness of the cultural layers of the Middle Paleolithic era. And we traditionally believed that they must belong to Neanderthals. But now we know for sure that the bearer of this Middle Paleolithic culture was a Denisovan.
Back in the 80s. last century, a tooth from the lower cultural layer 22 of the early stage of the Middle Paleolithic was discovered in Denisova Cave. The anthropologists who worked with him, including our outstanding scientist Valery Pavlovich Alekseev, studied this tooth in detail, but could not unambiguously determine who it belonged to. He combined the morphological features of both Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals. Paleogenetic analysis has now shown that this tooth belongs to a Denisovan. And Denisovan has a very interesting morphology. Despite its advanced culture, in terms of physical anthropology, its remains are quite archaic and have common features with both Neanderthals and even more ancient forms. We can say that here, in Altai, in the Denisova Cave, for many tens of thousands of years, starting from the Middle Paleolithic era, for at least 280 thousand years, the evolution of the Denisovans and the gradual formation of the Upper Paleolithic culture took place. That is, it can be argued that Altai is one of the centers of formation of human culture with a modern physical appearance.
- Where did the common features with Neanderthals come from?
Paleogenetic analysis showed that Denisovans had close contact with Neanderthals. Today in Altai, both in the Denisova Cave, and in the Okladnikov Cave, which is located 100 km to the north, and in the Chagyrskaya Cave, which is located 200 km northwest of the Denisova Cave, the remains of Neanderthals of the same period have been discovered. This is the easternmost area where Neanderthals lived. Paleogenetic analysis showed that Denisovans and Neanderthals entered into close relationships, and an exchange of genetic material occurred, the so-called inbreeding. Of course, the general role in the formation of a person with a modern physical appearance belongs to the African Homo Sapiens. But now it is known for sure that the modern Eurasian population in its genome has from 2 to 4% of the Neanderthal genome, and modern inhabitants of the Southern Hemisphere - the indigenous population of Australia, the islands of Melanesia and the Philippines - carry 3-6% of the Denisovans genome, that is, both Neanderthals and Denisovans contributed to the formation of man with a modern physical appearance. And many scientists say that if it were not for this inbreeding, modern humanity would have less strong immunity than it does now.
- So there was natural selection?
This played a certain role in human evolution. The history of Neanderthals here is also very interesting. If the cultural, genetic and biological roots of the Denisovans have an autochthonous basis, then the Neanderthals in Altai were aliens. Most likely, they came here approximately 60-50 thousand years ago. Before this, the eastern border of the distribution of Neanderthals was Central Asia, the territory of modern Uzbekistan. This is evidenced, in particular, by the famous find of the late 1930s. the then young researcher A.P. Okladnikov - the remains of a teenager’s skeleton in the Teshik-Tash cave. When Homo Sapiens colonized the territory of Eurasia and moved from the Middle East, it is possible that he displaced the Neanderthals from the territory of the western part of Central Asia. And they migrated eastward to Altai. Here they met the local population - the Denisovans.
- Who found this needle?
I am often asked this question. I'll tell you this: it would be wrong and unfair to single out a specific person. We know who found her - he is a wonderful specialist. But at the excavation site where this unprecedented discovery was made, two of our young researchers, two charming girls, worked. One of them found this needle. And praising one at the expense of the other is an ignoble thing. We have a large team, and this is the result of our common work.
- Now, more about the needle itself, please.
Firstly, it demonstrates the fairly high technological skills of the Denisovans, the bearers of this culture. Secondly, it demonstrates the skills of sewing clothes and making shoes. It was most likely made from the bone of a large bird, the size of a swan, or perhaps from the so-called slate bone of an ungulate limb. This will be shown by further laboratory studies of the find. Similar needles with an eye were found in Denisova Cave and other European monuments. But this is the first time a bone needle of this size, about 8 cm, has been discovered. Now we can say that this is apparently the oldest such product known today in archaeology. It was found in sediments about 50 thousand years old, completely intact and intact. This is very important, since it testifies not only to the perfection of the methods of its manufacture, but also to the fairly high level of excavation technology that we are carrying out in the Denisova Cave and at other Altai monuments.
That is, the modern methodology of our excavations guarantees maximum safety of ancient artifacts. In the laboratories of our institute we will conduct a comprehensive study of the needle and other finds. Let's extract as much information as possible. At the end of the field season, Thomas Higham, head of the radiocarbon dating laboratory at Oxford University, came to our expedition. He took samples to determine a more precise age of this find.
- What is the path of the found artifact from the cave to the laboratory?
Any find must undergo a thorough comprehensive analysis. All artifacts and bone remains discovered in the cultural layer of the cave are first recorded in place, photographed, described, and plotted. Then all the exposed soil goes to the river bank, where it is washed. Then the washed substrate needs to be dried, sifted into fractions, sorted through the fine fraction, and extracted micromaterial from it. Then all the material is sent to the specialists for initial determination. Many samples are specially packaged for further laboratory processing. We send them to many institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences and leading foreign centers. Moreover, the location of any new find in the cave can be correlated with finds from previous years. For this, we have a 3D model of the cave, which was made by employees of the Institute of the History of Natural Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences under the leadership of the famous cosmonaut and writer Yu.M. Baturina
You obviously have to collaborate with a large number of specialists from various fields of knowledge.
Of course, we try to attract a variety of specialists and, what is important, we always find a response from them. The Institute of Nuclear Physics, the Institute of Geophysics, the Institute of Geology, the Institute of Cytology and Genetics are working with archaeologists - these are the leading institutes of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. I don’t want to say banal words, but really only an interdisciplinary approach produces serious scientific results.
- You are now the director of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the SB RAS. What tasks do you consider the most important?
I only replaced A.P. in this post a year ago. Derevianko. Anatoly Panteleevich is the scientific director of our institute, the inspirer and organizer of all our scientific victories. We have excellent continuity and talented young employees. We have a great shift. I talk about this with pleasure. The more we work in Denisova Cave and other archaeological sites, the more results we get, the more new tasks we face. They need to be solved at a qualitatively new scientific level. Our youth are capable of this. Therefore, our institute and our research have a future.
- Are you expecting any other important finds in Denisova Cave?
We wait. When sequencing the Denisovan genome, our paleogenetics colleagues established the presence in it of up to 17% of the genome of an archaic hominin not yet known to science. It is possible that it will soon be discovered. This is a very interesting, I would say, intriguing task that has been set for both anthropologists and archaeologists. Today's task. Work is currently underway in this direction.
Interviewed by Olga Belenitskaya. Magazine "In the World of Science"
Bence Viola / Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
A teenage girl whose bone fragment was recently discovered in Denisova Cave was the daughter of a Neanderthal woman and a Denisovan man, the report says. Nature. For the first time, scientists have found a direct descendant of two extinct species. Presumably, such mixed unions occurred quite often.
Denisovan man is an extinct species or subspecies of people who inhabited South and East Asia and became extinct about 40 thousand years ago. What the Denisovans looked like is unknown, since so far only a few molars and individual bones or fragments have been found. But thanks to deciphering their genome, it turned out that Denisovans interbred both with modern humans and with Neanderthals, with whom they separated, according to various estimates from 390 to thousands of years ago. In Denisova Cave, not only the remains of Denisovans were found, but also the bones of Neanderthals from the so-called Altai population, which lived in Siberia about 120 thousand years ago.
In 2014, in Denisova Cave, archaeologists discovered a fragment of a long bone from Denisovan man (Denisova 11). Radiocarbon dating has shown that Denisovan lived more than 50 thousand years ago. Researchers from Germany, Russia, Canada and the UK, led by Svante Pääbo from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, analyzed the bone thickness of Denisova 11 and suggested that it was a teenager of 11-13 years old. They also sequenced the entire genome and found out that it was a girl.
To determine which species it belonged to, Neanderthals or Denisovans, the authors of the work compared the genome of Denisova 11 with the reference genomes of Denisovan man and Altai Neanderthal. It turned out that in the girl’s genome, 38.6 percent of alleles correspond to the Neanderthal genome, and 42.3 percent to the Denisovan genome.
The scientists then compared the number of transversions (mutations in which a purine base in DNA is replaced by a pyrimidine base and vice versa) in the Denisova genome with mutations in the Denisovan and two Neanderthal genomes (European and Altai Neanderthals). Judging by the degree of difference between the genomes, the girl’s genome contained one set of Neanderthal chromosomes and one set of Denisovan chromosomes.
In addition, the researchers were able to determine the origin of the Denisovan girl’s parents. Her mother turned out to be genetically more similar to the European Neanderthals who lived on the territory of modern Croatia about 30 thousand years ago, and not to the Altai population. Presumably, its ancestors and the Altai Neanderthals separated about 140 thousand years ago, and this population separated from the European branch about 100 thousand years ago. The father of Denisova 11 also had a Neanderthal ancestor who lived 300-600 generations before him.
Putative relationships and gene transfer between Neanderthals and Denisovans.
V. Slon et al. / Nature, 2018
Scientists believe that when ancient people met, they often interbred with each other. Another thing is that this possibility was limited; the habitats of Neanderthals and Denisovans overlapped little. It is possible that the mixed descendants of the two species were less viable than purebreds, and therefore Neanderthals and Denisovans did not mix, but survived as separate species.
According to the head of Russian archaeologists, scientific director of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the SB RAS, Academician Anatoly Derevianko, he expressed two hypotheses regarding the coexistence of Neanderthals and Denisovans.
“The first is antagonistic, when two species compete to the point of mutual destruction and even consumption of their own kind as food. This is supported by the absence of Neanderthal industrial objects in Denisova Cave - only fragments of their remains. Although, I note that in the Okladnikov Cave, located 45 km (as the crow flies), a sufficient number of Neanderthal stone products were found, more archaic compared to Denisovan ones.
The second hypothesis is that there were complementary relationships between Neanderthals and Denisovan people, even to the point of interbreeding. The latest discovery speaks in favor of this option... In the same eleventh layer in 2016, a fragment of human bone was found, so tiny that it has not yet been possible to establish its exact place in the skeleton. But sequencing of the DNA obtained from the bone showed that this girl, no younger than 13 years old, was a hybrid of a Neanderthal and a Denisovan, and in the fourth generation. Note that mixed-species offspring (for example, horses and donkeys) are not capable of further reproduction. Since Neanderthals and Denisovans interbred more than once, it follows that they belong to the same biological species, despite all the already established cultural and genetic differences.
This is an extremely important fundamental discovery. Denisovans and Neanderthals also interbred with early modern humans, who formed in Africa 200–150 thousand years ago. All this testifies to the unity of the biological species that settled in Africa and Eurasia...” says Derevianko.
Denisova Cave is located in the valley of the Anui River, 4 km from the village of Cherny Anui, Altai Territory.
The diagram shows the difference in the mitochondrial genomes of modern humans (living and late Pleistocene), Neanderthal and “Denisovan” humans.
Denisova Cave is one of the most famous archaeological sites of the Middle and Upper Paleolithic era. It preserves traces of the activity of ancient man. Employees of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the SB RAS have been excavating in Denisova Cave for many years. Geophysicists, paleobotanists, anthropologists, paleontologists and other scientists work together with archaeologists. The excavations are led by the deputy director of the institute, Doctor of Historical Sciences Mikhail Shunkov. Researchers sifted through cubic meters of soil, but for many years they could not find any remains of ancient people. Apparently, our ancestors did not bury their relatives in caves. And yet, in 2008, unique research was crowned with success - scientists discovered three teeth and a phalanx of the little finger, presumably of a girl of five to seven years old, who lived from 30 to 50 thousand years ago.
The little finger was transferred to the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig. Johansson Krause from the laboratory of paleogenetics, headed by Professor Svante Pääbo (by the way, in the same laboratory last year the Neanderthal genome was deciphered), isolated mitochondrial DNA, from which he compiled the complete genome of the “Denisovan” person. The results of a joint study by Russian and German scientists were published in the journal Nature on March 24 this year.
DNA was extracted from 30 mg of little finger bone powder. Over the past millennia, the molecule has broken down into fragments; scientists have discovered 9908 such DNA fragments. A large number of fragments were deciphered (sequenced) and assembled from them into a “puzzle” - a molecule of mitochondrial DNA of an ancient person. For greater reliability, the genome reconstruction procedure was repeated, taking the DNA of another bone fragment and using a different sequencing technique. The results were reproduced with high accuracy. Scientists believe that the reconstructed DNA actually turned out to be “ancient” and does not contain late “contaminants.”
The researchers compared the deciphered genome with the genomes of 54 modern people, one ancient person from the Kostenki-14 site on the Don, about 30 thousand years old, six European Neanderthals and two Neanderthals discovered in the Teshik-Tash grotto in Uzbekistan and in the Okladnikov cave in Altai (in a hundred kilometers about Denisova Cave). The total size of the mitochondrial genome in all three human species and chimpanzees turned out to be almost the same - 16,550-
16,570 base pairs.
It turned out that the man from Denisova Cave is genetically as far from modern man as he is from Neanderthal man. Moreover, the differences in the genome of the “Denisovan” and modern humans are twice as large as the genetic differences between modern humans and Neanderthals. The last common ancestor of all three human species lived about a million years ago, and sapiens and Neanderthals diverged about 466 thousand years ago.
Based on the analysis of mitochondrial DNA alone, it is impossible to say for sure how “Denis” man was related to sapiens and Neanderthals. The morphological characteristics of a species are determined not by mitochondrial, but by nuclear DNA. Research shows that the information contained in mitochondrial and nuclear genes does not always coincide. The mitochondrial genome is sensitive even to occasional interspecific hybridization, and only the nuclear genome carries exclusively species-specific characteristics.
Nevertheless, it is already clear that 30-50 thousand years ago the population of Altai was genetically diverse: people of different genetic lines (Neanderthals, sapiens and Denisovans) lived together in the same territory. Archaeological evidence confirms this. The layer of Denisova Cave, where the little finger was found, contains a mixture of objects typical of the Middle Paleolithic (most likely left by Neanderthals) and Late Paleotic objects made by sapiens. Archaeological finds show traces of continuity, mixing and flow of different cultures into each other.
Currently, there are two theories of the formation of modern man. Some researchers believe that it originated in Africa. Others adhere to the multiregional hypothesis, according to which sapiens also originated in Eurasia. One of the authors of the article under discussion, Director of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography SB RAS, Academician A.P. Derevyanko, is a supporter of the multiregional theory, according to which the blood of not only a small group of African sapiens flows in our veins, but also Neanderthals, and perhaps Asian archanthropes. The results of studying mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of a person from Denisova Cave cannot serve as a strong argument either for or against his theory. But still, the emerging image of three unrelated groups of people living together on the same territory, combined with continuity and mixing of cultures, gives this version plausibility.
By the way, quite recently the theory of A.P. Derevianko received another brilliant confirmation. The journal Science, published on May 7, published an article by the same group of German scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig reporting the complete decoding of the Neanderthal nuclear genome. Now there is practically no doubt left - Neanderthal blood flows in the veins of modern Europeans and Asians.
1. Name (more precisely, working title) - “Denisova 11”.
2. Source of information: nuclear DNA obtained from 175 mg of bone powder. Find: bone fragment 24.7 × 8.4 mm, location in the skeleton has not been established.
3. The girl’s age is over 13 years (as stated in one of the scientific reports, “the age of the bone remains is more than 13 years before the moment of death”).
4. Father is Denisovan, mother is Neanderthal.
5. The parents of “Denisova 11” are not purebred representatives of their subspecies; they carry the genetic trace of previous crossings, which is reflected in the girl’s genome. So, her father had at least one Neanderthal ancestor during his life.
6. The ancestors of “Denisova 11” along the Neanderthal line were probably relatively recent (about 20,000 years before the girl’s life) newcomers from Europe: in particular, their genetic connection can be traced with the inhabitants of the Vindija cave (Croatia).
7. 1.2% of Denisova 11 DNA fragments correspond to modern humans, 38.6% to Neanderthals and 42.3% to Denisovans.
Professor Svante Paabo, head of the laboratory at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Human History (Leipzig, Germany):
– And to this day we are all hybrids. In the genome of certain groups of modern people one can find 10-15% of Neanderthal genes and 1.5-5% of Denisovan genes. Even such a low proportion influences, according to one of our hypotheses, the adaptation to high altitude of the inhabitants of Tibet and to the cold of Greenland. Why not more? First, populations of Homo subspecies did not meet and interbreed as often. Secondly, there was selective selection directed against hybridization.
Vivian Sloan, employee of the laboratory of Svante Pääbo:
– We carefully checked all our results and the purity of their receipt. Versions such as mixing of material in the laboratory, errors in analytical equipment, and even the consequences of cannibalism were excluded. We can confidently say: the genome of the daughter of Denisovan man and a representative of the Altai Neanderthal population was sequenced(which separated more than 390,000 years ago - website note)
It has also been established that crossing of different subspecies of hominids in the Pleistocene era occurred almost every time different populations came into contact.
Location of Denisova Cave
Scientific director of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography SB RAS, Academician Anatoly Panteleevich Derevyanko:
Neanderthals also lived in the cave along with the Denisovans. The question naturally arises: how did they coexist? Recently I put forward two hypotheses.
The first is antagonistic, when two species compete to the point of mutual destruction and even consumption of their own kind as food. This is supported by the absence of Neanderthal industrial objects in Denisova Cave - only fragments of their remains. Although, I note that in the Okladnikov Cave, located 45 km (as the crow flies), a sufficient number of Neanderthal stone products were found, more archaic compared to Denisovan ones.
The second hypothesis is that there was a complementary relationship between Neanderthals and Denisovan people, even to the point of interbreeding. This option is supported by the last discovery included in the subtitle.
In the same eleventh layer in 2016, a fragment of human bone was found, so tiny that it has not yet been possible to establish its exact place in the skeleton. But sequencing of the DNA obtained from the bone showed that this girl, no younger than 13 years old, was a hybrid of a Neanderthal and a Denisovan, and in the fourth generation. Note that mixed-species offspring (for example, horses and donkeys) are not capable of further reproduction. Since Neanderthals and Denisovans interbred more than once, it follows that they belong to the same biological species, despite all the already established cultural and genetic differences.
This is an extremely important fundamental discovery. Denisovans and Neanderthals also interbred with early modern humans, who formed in Africa 200–150 thousand years ago. All this testifies to the unity of the biological species that settled in Africa and Eurasia. And this attracts more and more of our colleagues from all over the world to Denisova Cave: archaeologists, geneticists, anthropologists, paleontologists.
Did this discovery bring new knowledge about the appearance of Denisovans? Not yet. Genetic analysis provides incomplete information, since not all parts of the ancient genome can be restored. It all depends on the length of the chain and its sections that can be explored. So, about the first girl from Denisova Cave, we only know that she was dark-skinned and brown-eyed, plus her approximate age.
