Thousands of bone fragments discovered in a cave on China’s Tibetan Plateau offer a rare glimpse into the lives of Denisovans, the mysterious extinct relatives of Neanderthals and our own species. They show that they hunted everything from sheep to woolly rhinoceroses in their high-altitude home.
Researchers studied more than 2,500 bones found in the Baishiya Karst Cave, which is 3,280 meters above sea level and where fossil remains of Denisovans had previously been found.
They used ancient protein analysis of these remains to show that Denisovans exploited various animals for their meat and skin. They also unearthed a rib from a Denisovan individual that dates to 48,000-32,000 years ago. This is the youngest Denisovan fossil known to date.
