appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Dannie Peng

Denisovan remains discovered in southwestern China reveal that Yunnan province’s warm, biodiverse plateau was a “hunting paradise” for the hominins during a global glacial period, according to new research published in the journal Nature.
Within the region’s coniferous forests and forest-steppe environments, this archaic human group established a stable subsistence pattern highly adapted to local resources through specialised hunting and the intensive exploitation of animals.
The extinct Denisovans once roamed Eurasia, having diverged from modern humans (Homo sapiens) and Neanderthals several hundred thousand years ago.


Since Denisovans were first identified in 2010, research has yielded only a handful of molecularly identified remains, leaving scientists with a limited understanding of the species.
On September 9, two papers co-authored by researchers from institutions including the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Yunnan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology were published simultaneously in Nature. The two papers overlap in their study focus and some of the researchers are cited as authors on both papers.
The studies detail Denisovan fossils, associated artefacts and subsistence strategies discovered in Bianfu Cave in Yunnan, shedding new light on the appearance, evolution and behaviour of this elusive human group.
One paper, titled “Ancient proteins identify various Denisovan remains from southwest China”, said the findings “establish Bianfu Cave as a Denisovan locality yielding the most abundant remains of this hominin group outside Denisova Cave in Siberia”.
The authors noted that the findings “fill a critical geographic gap” in the documented distribution of Denisovans, refining understanding of their evolutionary history.
Unlike the widely studied Neanderthals – who were likely to have been replaced or assimilated by early Homo sapiens about 40,000 years ago – Denisovans are a more recent addition to the human family tree.
The first Denisovan skeletal fossil was discovered in Siberia’s Altai Mountains in 2008, and the group was formally named in 2010 after the sequencing of DNA from a finger bone revealed a lineage distinct from all known human species.
That landmark study was also published in Nature. Among the authors were the 2022 Nobel laureate Svante Paabo, a Swedish geneticist, and his former doctoral student Fu Qiaomei, who is now director of the ancient DNA laboratory at the CAS Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology (IVPP) in Beijing.

Since then, scientists have gradually identified a collection of cranial, facial and dental remains across Asia, including a male Denisovan jawbone dredged from the seabed in the Penghu Channel of the Taiwan Strait.
Up to 5 per cent of the DNA of modern Southeast Asian populations can be traced back to Denisovans. By contrast, the figure is about 2 per cent for populations in the Tibetan Plateau region and effectively zero in Europe.
This led scientists to speculate that Denisovans once existed widely across Asia, particularly in the southeast – a hypothesis supported by the fossil evidence unearthed in Yunnan.
In 2019, workers beginning an ecological restoration project at a quarry in the province stumbled upon bones and stone tools. That same year, systematic excavations of Bianfu Cave began, eventually yielding thousands of fossils.
The site is in Yunnan’s Dali Bai autonomous prefecture at an altitude of 2,370 metres (7,775 feet), on the southeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau and the southern edge of the Hengduan Mountains, according to the Yunnan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.
For the research detailed in the ancient proteins paper, Fu’s team at the IVPP screened more than 60,000 bone fragments. They identified three Denisovan fossils – two parietal bone fragments and one proximal radial fragment – as well as two Denisovan teeth. These remains date back between 134,000 and 167,000 years.
During this glacial period, the relatively warm climate and conifer-dominated forest-steppe environments around Bianfu Cave are likely to have provided a stable supply of mammals, according to the paper, transforming the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau into a “hunting paradise”.
However, given the scarcity of data, the researchers noted they could not yet determine the specific genetic contribution of this Denisovan population to modern human genomes.
In the second paper, titled “Denisovans from southwestern China and their subsistence strategies”, a team led by Chen Fahu from the CAS Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research analysed the remains alongside faunal records and associated archaeological materials, including more than 1,300 stone artefacts.
Faunal and pollen records indicate that the Denisovans inhabited a forest-like environment dominated by coniferous trees.
The study found that the cave’s inhabitants were highly skilled at hunting medium and large animals. When it came to their tools, they favoured a highly practical approach – quickly chipping stones into shape as needed and making widespread use of raw, unshaped animal bones.


A Nature News article about the research said: “Evidence from the site indicates that Denisovans crafted bone tools similar to those made by their relatives, the Neanderthals.”
The artefacts suggested that the Denisovans – who occupied the site for at least 30,000 years, and possibly up to 120,000 years – were skilled hunters of animals such as deer, the article said.


Chinese scientists build world’s smallest CT scanner, weighing just 6kg

China mulls building nuclear-powered tank with 450km-range railgun in 2 decades

Top Singaporean chemist Lu Yixin to join Chinese university EIT next year

Chinese plant extracts critical rare metals from lithium waste in world first

Science

Denisovan fossils in China reveal an ancient ‘hunting paradise’

Two new studies out of China detail Denisovan fossils, artefacts and subsistence strategies found in Bianfu Cave in Yunnan province, shedding light on the ancient hominins. Photo: IVPP

This diagram compares a fossil arm bone (BFD771) with those of Neanderthals, early ancestors, and modern humans. The blue arrows mark a distinct back edge on the biceps attachment, while red arrows show how the fossil’s front edge blends smoothly. Photo: Nature

How AI is helping to open a new chapter for ancient Chinese literature

Increasing numbers of medical and scientific texts are availble online. Photo: Getty Images

Online tools can not only help readers search texts but also translate them into modern language and provide background information. Photo: Handout

Many ancient works are largely inaccessible to modern readers. Photo: Xinhua

2,300-year-old wine found near Great Wall ruin reveals ancient brewing secrets

A well-preserved bronze Warring States-era wine vessel containing 2,300-year-old wine was discovered at the Shanjiabao cemetery. Here it is pictured in the lab. Photo: Handout

The wine vessel pictured at the cemetery after archaeologists found it. Photo: Handout

Why were there no teeny-tiny dinosaurs like we have with mammals and birds?

A model of a Microraptor (front) is wheeled out for display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The crow-sized Microraptor was one of the smallest-known dinosaurs, weighing about 430 grams. Photo: Reuters

A hummingbird drinks from a flower in a garden. The smallest hummingbird weighs less than two grams. Photo: AP

This feathered dinosaur, Anchiornis huxley, which lived in what is now China about 161 million years ago, embodies the gradual transition from non-avian dinosaurs to birds. Illustration: Zhao Chuang/Peking Natural Science Organisation

The 357-year-old Buddhist text in Taiwan said to bring lifetimes of luck with one glimpse

A gold-inked manuscript from the Tibetan Dragon Canon, which is on show as part of the “Tibetan Dragon Canon: A Symphony of Imperial Power, Belief and Art in a Golden Age” exhibition at Taiwan’s National Palace Museum until November 8, 2026. The 357-year-old text has recently gone viral for apparently granting those who view it seven lifetimes of good karma. Photo: NPM

The imperial preface to the Tibetan Dragon Canon, written by the Emperor Kangxi. Photo: NPM

One of the bejewelled protective boards of the Tibetan Dragon Canon. Photo: NPM

One of the 108 scripture wrappers with seven dragon motifs woven with gold and velvet threads made for the Tibetan Dragon Canon. Photo: NPM

The exhibition is on until November 8 at the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Photo: Shutterstock

Blackout at China’s Terracotta Army museum triggers nationwide cultural safety review

Visitors to the Terracotta Warriors museum in Xian, Shaanxi province, had their experience disrupted by a power outage on August 4. Some visitors said they were denied a refund. Photo: Xinhua 

News

China

Discoveries in southwest China’s Yunnan fill a geographic gap, uncovering how Denisovans lived as expert hunters of animals such as deer


Discoveries in southwest China’s Yunnan fill a geographic gap, uncovering how Denisovans lived as expert hunters of animals such as deer.


Archaeology and palaeontology

Russia

Denisovan fossils in China reveal an ancient ‘hunting paradise’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Discoveries in southwest China’s Yunnan fill a geographic gap, uncovering how Denisovans lived as expert hunters of animals such as deer

Discoveries in southwest China’s Yunnan fill a geographic gap, uncovering how Denisovans lived as expert hunters of animals such as deer