Ancient Humans Were Really Into Denisovans

Two waves of Denisovan ancestry in human history

Humans bred with this mysterious species more than once, new study shows

We rarely portray Neanderthals, our close relatives, as telegenic. Museum exhibits give them wild tangles of hair, and Hollywood reduces them to grunting unsophisticates. Their skulls suggest broad faces, tiny chins and jutting brows. But to mock Neanderthals is to mock ourselves: Homo sapiens had lots of sex with Homo neanderthalensis. Neanderthal genes supply between 1 percent and 4 percent of the genome in people from homelands on several continents, from Britain to Japan to Colombia.

Until proven otherwise, I assume Denisovan women were hot

DNA from another human-like primate, the Denisovans, lurks in modern genomes, too. A molar and a chip of pinkie bone found in a Siberian cave provide what little information we have about this species. DNA extracted from the fragments previously revealed cross-species breeding. Yet a new study in the journal Cell shows the ancient hanky-panky did not stop in Siberia: Humans who traveled across South Asia mated with a separate group of Denisovans, as well.

“This is a breakthrough paper,” said David Reich, who studies ancient DNA at Harvard University and was not involved with the study. “It's a definite third interbreeding event,” one that adds to the previously known Denisovan and Neanderthal mixtures.. . .

Interestingly, Instapundit seems to agree with me:  "APPARENTLY, WE’RE IRRESISTIBLY SEXY. OR MAYBE DENISOVANS WERE. Modern Humans Interbred With Denisovans Repeatedly. I'm going with the Denisovans.

“We’re looking for segments of DNA in an individual that look quite different from the rest of the variation in the population,” Browning said.

After the team fished out the DNA variations, the researchers matched the segments to Denisovan and Neanderthal sequences, known from samples in Siberia's Altai Mountains.

All groups studied, from British and Bengali people to Peruvians and Puerto Ricans, had a dense cluster that closely matched the Altai Neanderthals. Some populations also had a cluster that matched the Altai Denisovans, which was particularly pronounced in East Asians.

The surprise was a third cluster — not like the Neanderthal DNA and only partially resembling the Altai Denisovans. This, the authors concluded, was a second and separate pulse of Denisovan genes into the DNA blender.

“The geography is quite suggestive,” Browning said. The authors hypothesize that, as ancestral humans migrated eastward, they came across two different Denisovan populations. One pulse, to the north, shows up in people from China, Japan and Vietnam.

The other Denisovan pulse appears to the south. “Maybe it was down in the southeast corner of Asia,” Browning said. “It could possibly have been on an island en route to Papua New Guinea, but we clearly don’t know.”

Previous posts on the Denisovans:

Denisovan Genome Transcribed from Finger Bone

Spanish Neandertals and Other Stuff

The Denisovans Sure Got Around, Didn't They?

Were Denisovans the Original Sluts and Bad Boys?

Who Did the Hobbits?

A New Theory for the Origin of Yeti

Denisovan Princess Leaves Bracelet to Science

Denisovans in Paradise

Did Skanky Humans Do In the Neandertals?

Did Chinamen Predate Modern Man?

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