A jawbone shows Denisovans lived on the Tibetan Plateau long before modern humans, revealed by a study published in Nature. According to the research team led by Prof. CHEN Fahu from the Institute of the Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, ancient protein analysis indicates that the 160,000-year-old hominin mandible belonged to a population that was closely related to the Denisovans from Siberia. This finding represents perhaps the earliest hominin fossil on the Tibetan Plateau. Moreover, the EPAS1 gene found in the Siberian Denisovans and also possible in this newly found Tibetan Plateau Denisovan may explain why today’s Himalayan populations can adapt to extremely thin air.
Breakthrough Discovery Reported by Fahu Chen’s Team
The reported Xiahe mandible was found on the Tibetan Plateau in Baishiya Karst Cave in Xiahe, China. The fossil was originally discovered in 1980 by a local monk who donated it to the 6th Gung-Thang Living Buddha who then passed it on to Lanzhou University. Since 2010, CHEN Fahu and his colleague ZHANG Dongju from Lanzhou University have been studying the area of the discovery and the cave site where the mandible originated. In 2016, they initiated a collaboration with the Department of Human Evolution at the MPI-EVA and have since been jointly analysing the fossil.
While the researchers could not find any traces of DNA preserved in this fossil, they managed to extract collagen from one of the molars, which they then analysed applying ancient protein analysis. Ancient protein data, analysed by Frido Welker of the MPI-EVA and the University of Copenhagen, and Huan Xia of Lanzhou University, showed that the Xiahe mandible belonged to a hominin population that was closely related to the Denisovans from Denisova Cave.
The robust primitive shape of the mandible and the very large molars still attached to it, analysed by Jean-Jacques Hublin, suggest that this mandible once belonged to a Middle Pleistocene hominin sharing anatomical features with Neandertals and specimens from the Denisova Cave. Attached to the mandible was a heavy carbonate crust, and by applying U-series dating, by Chuan-Chou Shen from the Department of Geosciences at National Taiwan University, to the crust the researchers found that the Xiahe mandible is at least 160,000 years old, representing a minimum age of human presence on the Tibetan Plateau.
Fieldwork in Baishiya Karst Cave and surrounding regions led by Prof. CHEN Fahu
International Attention to the Study
Once getting published, the finding by Chen’s team immediately became the focus of media attention. Features and news coverage regarding the study are provided by a large number of International media agencies including the New York Times, National Geographic, CNN, BBC and so on. “It blows my mind that Denisovans lived on the Tibetan Plateau,” said paleoanthropologist Jean-Jacques Hublin of the Max Plank Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. His excitement was echoed by María Martinón-Torres, the director of Spain’s National Research Center on Human Evolution, in an email to National Geographic. She believes that thanks to this study the academia is “cornering” Denisovans and their portrait is gradually being unveiled. Likewise, Yousuke Kaifu of the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo says to The Atlantic: “The new discovery is an important step in understanding the Denisovans.”
With an Altmetric score of 2038, the article authored by Chen’s team ranked 28th of the 166,358 tracked articles of a similar age in all journals and 7th of the 565 tracked articles of a similar age in Nature, a solid proof of its academic influence. Altmetrics are metrics and qualitative data that are complementary to traditional, citation-based metrics. Sourced from the Web, it can indicate how often journal articles and other scholarly outputs like datasets are discussed and used around the world. For that reason, Altmetrics have been incorporated into researchers’ websites, institutional repositories, journal websites, and more.
Study Led by Fahu Chen’s Team Draws International Attentions
