The Denisovans - The Third Species of Human
Newly Discovered Hominids of Siberia
by K. Kris Hirst
Updated February 09, 2017
The Denisovans are a recently identified hominid species, related to but different from the other two hominid species who shared our planet during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic periods, early modern humans and Neanderthals. The only archaeological evidence of Denisovans recovered to date are a few tiny fragments of bone. Those were found in the Initial Upper Paleolithic layers of Denisova Cave, in the northwestern Altai Mountains some six kilometers (~four miles) from the village of Chernyi Anui in Siberia, Russia.
But those fragments hold DNA, and the sequencing of that genetic history and the discovery of remnants of those genes in modern human populations has important implications for the human habitation of our planet.
https://www.thoughtco.com/denisovans-the-third-species-of-human-171214