A late Middle Pleistocene Denisovan mandible from the Tibetan Plateau

Fahu Chen; Frido Welker; Chuan-Chou Shen; Shara E Bailey; Inga Bergmann; Simon Davis; Huan Xia; Hui Wang; Roman Fischer; Sarah E. Freidline; Tsai-Luen Yu; Matthew M. Skinner; Stefanie Stelzer; Guangrong Dong; Qiaomei Fu; Guanghui Dong; Jian Wang; Dongju Zhang; Jean-Jacques Hublin

doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1139-x

A late Middle Pleistocene Denisovan mandible from the Tibetan Plateau

Fahu Chen, Frido Welker, Chuan-Chou Shen, Shara E Bailey, Inga Bergmann, Simon Davis, Huan Xia, Hui Wang, Roman Fischer, Sarah E. Freidline, Tsai-Luen Yu, Matthew M. Skinner, Stefanie Stelzer, Guangrong Dong, Qiaomei Fu, Guanghui Dong, Jian Wang, Dongju Zhang, Jean-Jacques Hublin

96 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Denisovans are members of a hominin group who are currently only known directly from fragmentary fossils, the genomes of which have been studied from a single site, Denisova Cave1-3 in Siberia. They are also known indirectly from their genetic legacy through gene flow into several low-altitude East Asian populations4,5 and high-altitude modern Tibetans6. The lack of morphologically informative Denisovan fossils hinders our ability to connect geographically and temporally dispersed fossil hominins from Asia and to understand in a coherent manner their relation to recent Asian populations. This includes understanding the genetic adaptation of humans to the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau7,8, which was inherited from the Denisovans. Here we report a Denisovan mandible, identified by ancient protein analysis9,10, found on the Tibetan Plateau in Baishiya Karst Cave, Xiahe, Gansu, China. We determine the mandible to be at least 160 thousand years old through U-series dating of an adhering carbonate matrix. The Xiahe specimen provides direct evidence of the Denisovans outside the Altai Mountains and its analysis unique insights into Denisovan mandibular and dental morphology. Our results indicate that archaic hominins occupied the Tibetan Plateau in the Middle Pleistocene epoch and successfully adapted to high-altitude hypoxic environments long before the regional arrival of modern Homo sapiens.

Original language	English
Journal	Nature
Volume	569
Pages (from-to)	409-412
ISSN	0028-0836
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1139-x
Publication status	Published - 16 May 2019

Access to Document

10.1038/s41586-019-1139-x

Cite this

@article{24f98a07376746ca998c88674459d0c1,

title = "A late Middle Pleistocene Denisovan mandible from the Tibetan Plateau",

abstract = "Denisovans are members of a hominin group who are currently only known directly from fragmentary fossils, the genomes of which have been studied from a single site, Denisova Cave1-3 in Siberia. They are also known indirectly from their genetic legacy through gene flow into several low-altitude East Asian populations4,5 and high-altitude modern Tibetans6. The lack of morphologically informative Denisovan fossils hinders our ability to connect geographically and temporally dispersed fossil hominins from Asia and to understand in a coherent manner their relation to recent Asian populations. This includes understanding the genetic adaptation of humans to the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau7,8, which was inherited from the Denisovans. Here we report a Denisovan mandible, identified by ancient protein analysis9,10, found on the Tibetan Plateau in Baishiya Karst Cave, Xiahe, Gansu, China. We determine the mandible to be at least 160 thousand years old through U-series dating of an adhering carbonate matrix. The Xiahe specimen provides direct evidence of the Denisovans outside the Altai Mountains and its analysis unique insights into Denisovan mandibular and dental morphology. Our results indicate that archaic hominins occupied the Tibetan Plateau in the Middle Pleistocene epoch and successfully adapted to high-altitude hypoxic environments long before the regional arrival of modern Homo sapiens.",

author = "Fahu Chen and Frido Welker and Chuan-Chou Shen and Bailey, {Shara E} and Inga Bergmann and Simon Davis and Huan Xia and Hui Wang and Roman Fischer and Freidline, {Sarah E.} and Tsai-Luen Yu and Skinner, {Matthew M.} and Stefanie Stelzer and Guangrong Dong and Qiaomei Fu and Guanghui Dong and Jian Wang and Dongju Zhang and Jean-Jacques Hublin",

year = "2019",

month = may,

day = "16",

doi = "10.1038/s41586-019-1139-x",

language = "English",

volume = "569",

pages = "409--412",

journal = "Nature",

issn = "0028-0836",

publisher = "nature publishing group",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - A late Middle Pleistocene Denisovan mandible from the Tibetan Plateau

AU - Chen, Fahu

AU - Welker, Frido

AU - Shen, Chuan-Chou

AU - Bailey, Shara E

AU - Bergmann, Inga

AU - Davis, Simon

AU - Xia, Huan

AU - Wang, Hui

AU - Fischer, Roman

AU - Freidline, Sarah E.

AU - Yu, Tsai-Luen

AU - Skinner, Matthew M.

AU - Stelzer, Stefanie

AU - Dong, Guangrong

AU - Fu, Qiaomei

AU - Dong, Guanghui

AU - Wang, Jian

AU - Zhang, Dongju

AU - Hublin, Jean-Jacques

PY - 2019/5/16

Y1 - 2019/5/16

N2 - Denisovans are members of a hominin group who are currently only known directly from fragmentary fossils, the genomes of which have been studied from a single site, Denisova Cave1-3 in Siberia. They are also known indirectly from their genetic legacy through gene flow into several low-altitude East Asian populations4,5 and high-altitude modern Tibetans6. The lack of morphologically informative Denisovan fossils hinders our ability to connect geographically and temporally dispersed fossil hominins from Asia and to understand in a coherent manner their relation to recent Asian populations. This includes understanding the genetic adaptation of humans to the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau7,8, which was inherited from the Denisovans. Here we report a Denisovan mandible, identified by ancient protein analysis9,10, found on the Tibetan Plateau in Baishiya Karst Cave, Xiahe, Gansu, China. We determine the mandible to be at least 160 thousand years old through U-series dating of an adhering carbonate matrix. The Xiahe specimen provides direct evidence of the Denisovans outside the Altai Mountains and its analysis unique insights into Denisovan mandibular and dental morphology. Our results indicate that archaic hominins occupied the Tibetan Plateau in the Middle Pleistocene epoch and successfully adapted to high-altitude hypoxic environments long before the regional arrival of modern Homo sapiens.

AB - Denisovans are members of a hominin group who are currently only known directly from fragmentary fossils, the genomes of which have been studied from a single site, Denisova Cave1-3 in Siberia. They are also known indirectly from their genetic legacy through gene flow into several low-altitude East Asian populations4,5 and high-altitude modern Tibetans6. The lack of morphologically informative Denisovan fossils hinders our ability to connect geographically and temporally dispersed fossil hominins from Asia and to understand in a coherent manner their relation to recent Asian populations. This includes understanding the genetic adaptation of humans to the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau7,8, which was inherited from the Denisovans. Here we report a Denisovan mandible, identified by ancient protein analysis9,10, found on the Tibetan Plateau in Baishiya Karst Cave, Xiahe, Gansu, China. We determine the mandible to be at least 160 thousand years old through U-series dating of an adhering carbonate matrix. The Xiahe specimen provides direct evidence of the Denisovans outside the Altai Mountains and its analysis unique insights into Denisovan mandibular and dental morphology. Our results indicate that archaic hominins occupied the Tibetan Plateau in the Middle Pleistocene epoch and successfully adapted to high-altitude hypoxic environments long before the regional arrival of modern Homo sapiens.

U2 - 10.1038/s41586-019-1139-x

DO - 10.1038/s41586-019-1139-x

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 31043746

SN - 0028-0836

VL - 569

SP - 409

EP - 412

JO - Nature

JF - Nature

ER -

A late Middle Pleistocene Denisovan mandible from the Tibetan Plateau

Abstract

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this