Scientists discovered a human-hybrid, and they say there were likely many more of them.
Around 90,000 years ago, a young girl lived in a cave in the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia. Though her life was short, her existence represents a pivotal moment in human evolution.
She is the first known hybrid of two different ancient human species: Neanderthals and Denisovans. Her remains, a small bone fragment, were discovered by researchers this past summer, and a study published in Nature has revealed the groundbreaking details of the find.
Denisova 11, as she is called, lived among members of both species, making her hybrid status all the more fascinating and shedding new light on human evolution.
DNA analysis revealed that half of her chromosomes matched Denisovans and the other half aligned with Neanderthals. Her Neanderthal mother’s DNA resembled that of Neanderthals from Croatia, while her father’s DNA was similar to the original Denisovan found in the same cave.
This discovery adds to growing evidence that interbreeding between different human species was more common than previously thought. It challenges previous theories that the presence of Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA in modern humans could be explained solely by common ancestors. Instead, this find suggests that hybridization among ancient humans may have played a crucial role in shaping our evolutionary history, further unraveling the mysteries of our ancient relatives