Level 1 - Absolute Beginner
Scientists found old bones in a cave in southwest China. The cave is called Bianfu Cave.
The bones belong to a group of early people called Denisovans. They lived a very long time ago.
There were more than 60,000 bone pieces in the cave. Only seven came from early humans. Three were Denisovan: two skull pieces and one arm bone.
The bones are too old for DNA tests. So the team used proteins instead.
- cave
- A big hole in a mountain or the ground.
- bone
- A hard part inside the body.
- skull
- The bones of the head.
- arm
- The part of the body from shoulder to hand.
- ancient
- Very, very old.
- protein
- A natural material that makes up living things.
- DNA
- The code inside living things.
- team
- A group that works together.
Level 2 - Elementary
Scientists have confirmed that Denisovans, an extinct group of early humans, once lived in southwest China. The proof came from Bianfu Cave in Yunnan province.
The cave held more than 60,000 bone fragments. Seven came from early humans, and three were shown to be Denisovan: two small pieces of skull and a bone from the lower arm called the radius.
The bones were too old and the cave too warm for DNA to survive. So researchers read ancient proteins. A tiny change in a protein called collagen only Denisovans have told them who the bones belonged to.
The findings were reported in the journal Nature in early September. Until now most Denisovan finds came from Siberia and Tibet.
- extinct
- No longer alive anywhere on Earth.
- fragment
- A small broken piece.
- radius
- A bone in the lower arm.
- survive
- To last through a long time.
- collagen
- A protein found in bones and skin.
- confirm
- To show that something is true.
- province
- A large part of a country.
- species
- A kind of living thing.
Level 3 - Intermediate
Denisovans, a lineage of ancient humans first identified from a finger bone in a Siberian cave, have long been known more from their genes than from their bones. A new find in southwest China adds to a thin fossil record.
Researchers working at Bianfu Cave in Yunnan province sifted more than 60,000 bone fragments and identified seven as hominin. Three were confirmed as Denisovan: two small skull fragments and part of an arm bone, the radius, which is the first Denisovan radius ever recognised. The studies appeared in Nature in early September.
Because the cave is old and relatively warm, DNA was unlikely to survive, so the team turned to palaeoproteomics, the study of ancient proteins. A variant of the collagen gene COL1A2, known as R996K, is characteristic of Denisovans, and finding it in the bones settled their identity. Reports vary on the age, but most place the remains well over a hundred thousand years ago.
The result matters because it extends the known Denisovan range into subtropical southwest China and makes the cave the richest Denisovan site outside Siberia, hinting that these people lived in far more varied environments than once assumed.
- lineage
- A line of descent from earlier groups.
- fossil record
- The evidence of past life found in rock and bone.
- hominin
- A member of the human family tree.
- sift
- To search through carefully.
- palaeoproteomics
- The study of ancient proteins.
- variant
- A slightly different form.
- subtropical
- Warm and humid, near the tropics.
- assume
- To believe without proof.
Level 4 - Advanced
For a people known mainly from a finger bone, a few teeth and a genome, the Denisovans are acquiring a more tangible body: new fossils from a cave in Yunnan, southwest China, are filling in where and how they lived.
Reported in Nature in early September, the work screened more than 60,000 bone fragments from Bianfu Cave and singled out seven as hominin. Three, two small cranial fragments and a radius, the first Denisovan forearm bone on record, were attributed to Denisovans through palaeoproteomics, because DNA seldom endures in old, warm caves. The diagnostic signal was a collagen variant, COL1A2 R996K, unique to the group.
Published estimates of the remains' age diverge, though most place them well beyond a hundred thousand years ago, and details such as tooth counts differ between accounts. What is not in dispute is the geography: the finds push the Denisovan range into subtropical China and make the cave the richest Denisovan site outside Siberia.
That matters for interpreting modern human ancestry, since Denisovan DNA persists in present day populations across Asia and Oceania. A species once pictured as a cold climate specialist now looks adaptable, and protein evidence, rather than DNA alone, may be the key to locating more of its elusive remains.
- tangible
- Real enough to be touched or clearly seen.
- cranial
- Relating to the skull.
- attribute
- To say something belongs to a certain source.
- endure
- To last over a long time.
- diagnostic
- Helping to identify something.
- diverge
- To differ or move apart.
- elusive
- Hard to find or catch.
- adaptable
- Able to adjust to new conditions.
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