An international team of scientists from China, Denmark and other countries has found bones and tools from Denisovans, mysterious and little-studied relatives of modern humans and Neanderthals. The research was published in the scientific journal magazine Nature.
The team discovered more than 2.5 thousand different remains in the Baishiya karst cave, located 3,280 meters above sea level.
Analysis of ancient proteins showed that Denisovans hunted a wide variety of animals for their meat and skins, from wild sheep, marmots and birds to yaks, spotted hyenas and even woolly rhinos.
The researchers noted that the Denisovans had tools for skinning carcasses and cutting up meat.
“We got our first insight into how Denisovans survived, and we learned that they were very skilled at extracting and using different animal resources,” said molecular anthropologist Friedo Welker of the University of Copenhagen.
Archaeologists also excavated and identified a Denisovan rib fragment that was between 48,000 and 32,000 years old, the youngest fossil of this species known to date.
During previous expeditions to the Tibetan plateau, scientists found bones of Denisovans no younger than 160 thousand years.
Formerly among the natives of Papua New Guinea to create Denisovan human genes.