
First Confirmed Denisovan Skull Piece Found - anthrocurious
https://www.sapiens.org/evolution/denisovan-skull-found/
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lostlogin
For those like me who had no idea - Denisovans diverged from the branch that
became Modern humans 600-744,000 years ago.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denisovan](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denisovan)

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mnemotechny
Thank you, stranger.

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forgot-my-pw
lostlogin is the name. Seems to be a distant relative of mine...

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dkarl
It's amazing and exciting that we know so little about a human lineage that
contributed a measurable amount of DNA back to us hundreds of thousands of
years after our lineages diverged.

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jokoon
How did they confirm such findings? I guess DNA can't survive for so long. Did
they deduct this from shape?

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Matticus_Rex
With modern extraction techniques DNA is doable.

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mdtancsa
There is a really fascinating (IMHO) podcast about the use of modern DNA
analysis and the insights into ancient populations on the After-On podcast
with David Reich [https://after-on.com/episodes-31-60/034](https://after-
on.com/episodes-31-60/034) Up until podcast, I didnt even know there was a
branch called Denisovans. Although not generally a big interest of mine, I
found it interesting enough to read Reich's book which was a fascinating
detective story and a very new view onto ancient history.

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Matticus_Rex
+1 for the book! Just finished it a couple of weeks ago. And if you liked
that, consider The Tangled Tree by David Quammen.

