The First Denisovan Forearm Bone Ever Discovered Fills a Key Knowledge Gap in Our Understanding of This Archaic Hominin

The first Denisovan radius ever discovered, found in Bianfu Cave in Southwest China, fills a critical knowledge gap in our understanding of this archaic hominin. The remains, dated between 148,000 and 143,000 years old, include two parietal bone fragments and one proximal radial fragment, confirmed by ZooMS to belong to hominins. The study highlights the importance of the site in providing insights into Denisovan morphology and regional variation. A novel technique, combining morphological pre-screening with ZooMS, was used to efficiently recover and identify hominin fragments from the site, which holds 22 likely hominin bone fragments.

• "Amino acid analysis identified a unique COL1A2 R996K variant in the radius, confirming the species identity."
• "Two of the hominin remains were excavated from the same layer, with one being even older, dated between 167,000 and 150,000 years ago."
• "The cranial thickness pattern in the remains is remarkably similar to H. heidelbergensis and East Asian late Middle Pleistocene archaic Homo."

This discovery represents the first complete Denisovan body fossil found in China, offering new data on biochemical adaptations and morphological differences from Neanderthals and modern humans. The site may hold the largest fossil record for Denisovans in Asia, potentially providing crucial information for understanding their biology and distribution. The paper, "Ancient Proteins Identify Various Denisovan Remains from Southwest China," was published in Nature on September 9, 2026.

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