Post by Admin on Jan 8, 2020 18:13:02 GMT
The High Life
Writing in Nature in May, a separate team announced that a partial mandible, or jawbone, found in a cave on the Tibetan Plateau, came from a Denisovan. It was the first time a Denisovan had been found outside Denisova Cave. And, at around 160,000 years old and about 2 miles above sea level, it revealed that archaic humans lived at extreme altitudes long before our own species did.
The discovery also cleared up a modern mystery. Scientists have known that modern-day Tibetans possess a gene inherited from Denisovans thousands of years ago, when our species interbred. The gene, known as EPAS1, alters the body’s production of hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen, and helps them survive high-altitude environments. However, because Denisova Cave is not at high altitude, researchers had puzzled over why individuals living there would be adapted for the high life.
The discovery of the Tibetan mandible solves that mystery, and also expands the known Denisovan territory by more than a thousand miles.
The Tibetan jawbone might answer a few more questions, too. Scientists have not been able to identify a number of ancient human bones unearthed in China; knowing what Denisovan jaws look like may help them classify some of the undescribed fossils.
Writing in Nature in May, a separate team announced that a partial mandible, or jawbone, found in a cave on the Tibetan Plateau, came from a Denisovan. It was the first time a Denisovan had been found outside Denisova Cave. And, at around 160,000 years old and about 2 miles above sea level, it revealed that archaic humans lived at extreme altitudes long before our own species did.
The discovery also cleared up a modern mystery. Scientists have known that modern-day Tibetans possess a gene inherited from Denisovans thousands of years ago, when our species interbred. The gene, known as EPAS1, alters the body’s production of hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen, and helps them survive high-altitude environments. However, because Denisova Cave is not at high altitude, researchers had puzzled over why individuals living there would be adapted for the high life.
The discovery of the Tibetan mandible solves that mystery, and also expands the known Denisovan territory by more than a thousand miles.
The Tibetan jawbone might answer a few more questions, too. Scientists have not been able to identify a number of ancient human bones unearthed in China; knowing what Denisovan jaws look like may help them classify some of the undescribed fossils.
