Denisovan
| Denisova hominin Temporal range: Pleistocene
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Denisova hominin is the name given to a species of proto-human that was identified through the analysis of DNA, and announced in March 2010. Scientists believe that Denisova hominins lived between 1 million and 40,000 years ago, and lived in areas also inhabited by Neanderthals and Modern humans.[1][2]
A team of scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, led by Svante Pääbo, sequenced mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) extracted from the fragment of a child's pinky finger bone found in Denisova Cave in Siberia. Artifacts excavated in the cave at the same level that the bone fragment was found were carbon dated to around 40,000 old. Likewise, analysis of the mtDNA indicates a common ancestor is last shared between Denisova hominin, Neanderthals, and Modern humans around 1 million years ago.[3]