Dating of hominin discoveries at Denisova

Dennell, Robin

doi:10.1038/d41586-019-00264-0

NEWS AND VIEWS
30 January 2019

Dating of hominin discoveries at Denisova

Denisova Cave sheltered hominins at least 200,000 years ago, and excavations there have illuminated our understanding of early hominins in Asia. New dating analyses now refine this knowledge.

Robin Dennell⁰

Robin Dennell
1. Robin Dennell is in the Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QH, UK.
View author publications

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Access through your institution

Buy or subscribe

Denisova Cave lies in a valley in the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia. Excavations began there 40 years ago, focusing on layers of material from the Middle Palaeolithic period (about 340,000 to 45,000 years ago) and the Initial Upper Palaeolithic (which is defined by the identification of types of stone tool, and often by the presence of items such as ornaments, and which corresponds to 45,000 to 40,000 years ago at this site). The excavations have provided many key insights into the lives of hominins belonging to branches of the evolutionary tree close to that of our own species, Homo sapiens. Douka et al.¹ and Jacobs et al.² now report their use of the latest dating techniques, which lead to a revised timeline of hominin-associated material in this cave.

Access options

Access through your institution

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 565, 571-572 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-00264-0

References

Douka, K. et al. Nature 565, 640–644 (2019).
Article Google Scholar
Jacobs, Z. et al. Nature 565, 594–599 (2019).
Article Google Scholar
Krause, J. et al. Nature 464, 894–897 (2010).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Slon, V. et al. Science 356, 605–608 (2017).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Reich, D. et al. Nature 468, 1053–1060 (2010).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Prüfer, K. et al. Nature 505, 43–49 (2014).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Prokopenko, A. A., Hinnov, L. A., Williams, D. F. & Kuzmin, M. I. Quat. Sci. Rev. 25, 3431–3457 (2006).
Article Google Scholar
Grygar, T. et al. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 250, 50–67 (2007).
Article Google Scholar
Slon, V. et al. Nature 561, 113–116 (2018).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Fu, Q. et al. Nature 514, 445–449 (2014).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Derevianko, A. P. Archaeol. Ethnol. Anthropol. Eurasia 501–508 (2005).
Google Scholar