A 150,000-year-old tooth discovered in Southeast Asia once belonged to a young Denisovan girl. The ancient molar, found in the Cobra Cave in northern Laos, is thought to have come from a young, female Denisovan who died young for unknown reasons.

Figure 1: fossil tooth discovered in Cobra caves.

Figure 1 shows that the authors say the molar 'only recently completed development' and likely belonged to a girl aged somewhere between 3.5 and 8.5 years when she died.

She likely lived between 164,000 and 131,000 years ago in the warm tropics of northern Laos, analysis suggests.

Researchers say the Cobra Cave tooth is similar to Denisovan teeth found on the Tibetan Plateau – the only other location where Denisovan fossils have ever been found. [1]

It’s possible that the Cobra Cave tooth represents a Neandertal or someone with Denisovan and Neandertal ancestry (SN: 8/22/18), Demeter says. His group hopes to extract DNA from the fossil, which could clarify its evolutionary status.

It now appears that at least five Homo species, including Denisovans, inhabited Southeast Asia between roughly 150,000 and 40,000 years ago, Demeter says. Others include Homo sapiens, Homo erectus (SN: 12/18/19), Homo luzonensis (SN: 4/10/19) and Homo floresiensis (SN: 3/30/16), also known as hobbits, he contends. [2]

According to the researchers, the DNA of Denisovans has also been found in some modern humans. Our Homosapiens ancestors are believed to have come into contact with Denisovans sometime in ancient times.

There was sex between the two and this led to the birth of children. These children were a mixture of Denisovans and Homo sapiens. This suggests that we can peek into human history using current genetic data. Denisovans had pinkish bones, three teeth and a lower jaw. [3]

References:

1. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10825529/Ancient-tooth-Asia-belonged-Denisovan-girl-study-finds.html
2. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/denisovan-girl-fossil-tooth-hominid-laos-anthropology
3. https://hindustannewshub.com/world-news/130000-year-old-girls-tooth-found-in-laos-the-biggest-mystery-will-be-solved-by-human-black-box/

Cite this article:

Sri Vasagi K (2022), Unearthed Fossil Tooth Discovered in Cobra Caves, Anatechmaz, pp. 286