Another Denisovan and Philippine hobbits

[lpetrich]

 Denisovan - the first Denisovans were discovered in a cave in the Altai Mountains in Russia, a cave near Kazakhstan, China, and Mongolia. Or more precisely, teeth, a finger bone, and part of a limb bone. Those parts contained some genetic material, and when it was sequenced, it was recognized that the Denisovans were a different species from present-day humanity and the Neanderthals.

From the genetics, the finger bone's owner had a Denisovan father and a Neanderthal father.

High-Altitude Fossil Links Ancient Denisovans to the 'Roof of the World' Denisovans, A Mysterious Kind Of Ancient Humans, Are Traced To Tibet : NPR Biggest Denisovan fossil yet spills ancient human’s secrets A partial jawbone was discovered there, and though it had no recoverable genetic material, it had some surviving protein, and its sequences were a close fit to the Denisovans.

The Denisovans had genetic evidence of adaptation to high altitudes, something mysterious for the first ones found, since the Denisova cave's altitude is only 700 meters. However, the new find's site, Baishiya Karst Cave, has an altitude of 3,280 meters, making high-altitude adaptations more valuable.

The Denisova cave's fossils are roughly 40,000 - 100,000 years old, and the Tibet one is over 160,000 years old.

Some present-day people have evidence of Denisovan genetic admixture, notably Melanesians.

-A new hominid species has been found in a cave in the Philippines | Science News - named Homo luzonensis

Excavations in 2007, 2011 and 2015 at Luzon’s Callao Cave yielded a dozen H. luzonensis fossils at first — seven isolated teeth (five from the same individual), two finger bones, two toe bones and an upper leg bone missing its ends, the scientists say. Analysis of the radioactive decay of uranium in one tooth suggested a minimum age of 50,000 years. Based on those fossils, a hominid foot bone found in 2007 in the same cave sediment was also identified as H. luzonensis. It dates to at least 67,000 years ago.

The fossils reveal a jumble of modern and primitive features. H. luzonensis had molars that were especially small, even smaller than those of hobbits, with some features similar to modern humans’ molars. The hominid also had relatively large premolars that, surprisingly, had two or three roots rather than one. Hominids dating to several hundred thousand years ago or more, such as Homo erectus, typically had premolars with multiple roots. H. luzonensis finger and toe bones are curved, suggesting a tree-climbing ability comparable to hominids from 2 million years ago or more.

It's unclear whether H. luzonensis was as small as hobbits, Détroit says. The best-preserved hobbit skeleton comes from a female who stood about a meter tall. Based on the length of the Callao Cave foot bone, Détroit’s team suspects that H. luzonensis was taller than that, although still smaller than most human adults today.

The hobbits are Homo floresiensis, found on Flores Island in Indonesia. Its remains date back to some 60,000 - 100,000 years ago. They got nicknamed hobbits from their shortness, about 1.1m in one specimen.

 

[Jokodo]

 Denisovan - the first Denisovans were discovered in a cave in the Altai Mountains in Russia, a cave near Kazakhstan, China, and Mongolia. Or more precisely, teeth, a finger bone, and part of a limb bone. Those parts contained some genetic material, and when it was sequenced, it was recognized that the Denisovans were a different species from present-day humanity and the Neanderthals.

From the genetics, the finger bone's owner had a Denisovan father and a Neanderthal father.

High-Altitude Fossil Links Ancient Denisovans to the 'Roof of the World' Denisovans, A Mysterious Kind Of Ancient Humans, Are Traced To Tibet : NPR Biggest Denisovan fossil yet spills ancient human’s secrets A partial jawbone was discovered there, and though it had no recoverable genetic material, it had some surviving protein, and its sequences were a close fit to the Denisovans.

The Denisovans had genetic evidence of adaptation to high altitudes, something mysterious for the first ones found, since the Denisova cave's altitude is only 700 meters. However, the new find's site, Baishiya Karst Cave, has an altitude of 3,280 meters, making high-altitude adaptations more valuable.

The Denisova cave's fossils are roughly 40,000 - 100,000 years old, and the Tibet one is over 160,000 years old.

Some present-day people have evidence of Denisovan genetic admixture, notably Melanesians.

-A new hominid species has been found in a cave in the Philippines | Science News - named Homo luzonensis

Excavations in 2007, 2011 and 2015 at Luzon’s Callao Cave yielded a dozen H. luzonensis fossils at first — seven isolated teeth (five from the same individual), two finger bones, two toe bones and an upper leg bone missing its ends, the scientists say. Analysis of the radioactive decay of uranium in one tooth suggested a minimum age of 50,000 years. Based on those fossils, a hominid foot bone found in 2007 in the same cave sediment was also identified as H. luzonensis. It dates to at least 67,000 years ago.

The fossils reveal a jumble of modern and primitive features. H. luzonensis had molars that were especially small, even smaller than those of hobbits, with some features similar to modern humans’ molars. The hominid also had relatively large premolars that, surprisingly, had two or three roots rather than one. Hominids dating to several hundred thousand years ago or more, such as Homo erectus, typically had premolars with multiple roots. H. luzonensis finger and toe bones are curved, suggesting a tree-climbing ability comparable to hominids from 2 million years ago or more.

It's unclear whether H. luzonensis was as small as hobbits, Détroit says. The best-preserved hobbit skeleton comes from a female who stood about a meter tall. Based on the length of the Callao Cave foot bone, Détroit’s team suspects that H. luzonensis was taller than that, although still smaller than most human adults today.

The hobbits are Homo floresiensis, found on Flores Island in Indonesia. Its remains date back to some 60,000 - 100,000 years ago. They got nicknamed hobbits from their shortness, about 1.1m in one specimen.

Philippine hobbits? Sounds more like tree elves

 

[Jokodo]

On a more serious note, these are interesting times indeed.

Given the temporal overlap and geographical proximity between descendants of Asian homo erectus and the Denisovans in Asia, is there any evidence of contact?

I believe that the first emigration of homo erectus to Asia was around 1.8My BP, correct? And the second wave, the ancestors of Neanderthals and Denisovans reached Eurasia around 800ky BP after splitting from the ancestors of African homo sapiens around 1My ago? So by the time the Denisovans' ancestors reached Asia, the split between them and local homo erectus was not much older than the split between their descendants and homo sapiens, where we no interbreeding happened.