Child's tooth could offer clues to ancient human relative

A child's tooth from 130,000 years ago was found in a cave and could help scientists learn more about an early human cousin.

Researchers believe the discovery proves that Denisovans lived in the tropics.

The Denisovans are a cousin of Neanderthals.

The finger bone of a girl belonging to a previously unidentified group of humans was found in a cave in 2010 by scientists.

They used a finger and a wisdom tooth to extract the entire genome of the group.

A jawbone was found on the Tibetan Plateau, proving that part of the species lived in China as well.

The Denisova man left little trace before he vanished, except for his genes.

Denisovan remnants can be found in current populations in southeast Asia and Oceania.

Up to five percent of the ancient species is contained in the genes of the aboriginal Australians.

There is a cave called the Cobra Cave.

Clement Zanolli, a paleoanthropologist and co-author of the study, said that the modern ancestors were mixed with Denisovans in southeast Asia.

The researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research said there was no proof of their presence in this part of the Asian continent.

The group of scientists began searching in the Cobra Cave.

The remains of ancient humans have already been found in the area, which was discovered by Cave specialists in a mountain.

Zanolli explained that the tooth appeared to be a human shape.

The tooth belonged to a child between 3.5 and 8.5 years old, according to the study.

The tooth is too old for carbon-dating and the DNA has been badly preserved because of the heat and humidity.

Scientists think it was most likely a Denisovan who lived between 164,000 to 131,000 years ago.

A Neanderthal cousin.

They used different methods to study the tooth's interior.

The internal structure of the tooth was similar to that found in the Tibetan Denisova specimen. It was very similar to modern humans and other ancient species that lived in Indonesia and the Philippines.

The tooth is temporarily based at the University of Copenhagen, where Demeter is a researcher.

Neanderthals were genetically close to Denisovans, and the tooth's structure was similar. Around 350,000 years ago, the two species are thought to have diverged.

According to Zanolli, the researchers concluded it was a Denisova specimen because no Neanderthal traces have been found so far east.

The discovery shows that Denisovans were able to adapt to a wide range of environments, from cold altitudes to tropical climates, whereas their Neanderthal cousins seemed more specialized in cold western regions.

The Denisovans could have met and interbred with modern humans, who passed on their genetic heritage to southeast Asia's modern populations.

More information: Fabrice Demeter et al, A Middle Pleistocene Denisovan molar from the Annamite Chain of northern Laos, Nature Communications (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29923-z Journal information: Nature Communications

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