The Origin of H. s. denisovan and Their Dispersal Across Iran

Bibliographic Data

ID7446992
AuthorsA P Derevianko (0000-0003-1156-8331, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume52
Issue3
Pages3-16
Publication date2024-10-05
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueArchaeology Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1563-0110 • E-ISSN: 1531-832X
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.17746/1563-0110.2024.52.3.003-016
OpenAlexW4403259062
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited40

Before the early 2000s, anthropologists spoke of two taxa existing in the Late Middle and Early Upper Pleistocene: anatomically modern humans in Africa and Neanderthals associated with the Mousterian industry in Eurasia. Therefore, all Eurasian Paleolithic sites dating to that period were believed to be Mousterian and were associated with Neanderthals. In 2010, owing to the sequencing of mtDNA from a fragment of the distal phalanx of the hand found in Denisova Cave, a third species was introduced, genetically different from both anatomically modern humans and Neanderthals. This new taxon was termed H. s. denisovan—or simply Denisovan. Further studies showed that this population dispersed in the Late Middle and Early Upper Pleistocene across vast territories of Central and Southeast Asia. A question arose as to where Denisovans had originated and which routes they had taken to get to the Altai. A series of articles forthcoming in this journal will address these questions. The first of them focuses on the origin of Denisovans on the basis of H. heidelbergensis and on their migration via Iran to Central Asia

Archaeology · Biological dispersal · Cave · Geography · Middle Paleolithic · Mousterian · Neanderthal · Pleistocene · Population · Taxon · Upper Paleolithic · Demography · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Yersinia bacterium, plague, ectoparasites research · Geology · Paleontology