Cool Finds

Scientists Find a Trove of Denisovan Fossils and Tools in Southwest China, Giving an Unprecedented Glimpse Into Our Extinct Cousins’ Lives

Relatively few fossils belonging to the enigmatic early human have been unearthed in the past. Two new studies describe seven Denisovan fossils and more than 1,300 stone and bone tools

Margherita Bassi | Daily Correspondent

September 14, 2026 9:00 a.m.

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In 2010, researchers who had extracted DNA from an ancient finger bone revealed that it belonged to a previously unknown human relative. The fossil, recovered from Denisova Cave in Siberia, came from a member of a group nicknamed Denisovans, now formally called Homo longi.

But these cousins of ours, who lived in Asia between 400,000 and 30,000 years ago, have remained mysterious in the years since. Relatively few of their fossils have been found, and never a near-complete skeleton. On the other hand, scientists have uncovered thousands of remains that belonged to our Neanderthal relatives.

A recent discovery is changing that. Researchers found a trove of Denisovan fossils, along with their stone and bone tools and remains of animals they used, in a cave in southwestern China. The findings suggest the enigmatic hominins used the site for tens of thousands of years and shed light on Denisovans’ physical characteristics and lives, according to two studies published September 9 in the journal Nature.

“Both papers are very welcome because they provide important new information on Denisovans—not only regarding new fossils and evolutionary anatomy, but also their use and production of stone tools and their hunting practices,” Antonio Rosas, a paleoanthropologist at the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Spain who was not involved in the new research, tells Gizmodo’s Gayoung Lee.

The researchers sifted through more than 60,000 bone fragments recovered from Bianfu Cave in China’s Yunnan Province. They sorted the pieces according to shape to figure out which ones probably belonged to hominins, then they used a protein-analysis technique to pinpoint which pieces came from Denisovans.

“We first identified some isolated teeth and then from the huge amount of animal fossils, we identified the bones—but the fragments were very hard to find at the beginning,” Hao Li, an archaeologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research who co-authored one of the studies, tells CNN’s Katie Hunt.

The work yielded two skull fragments, four teeth and part of a forearm bone from at least four Denisovan individuals that lived between 134,000 and 167,000 years ago.

While the fossils’ ancient amino acids that make up proteins were preserved, their DNA—which is more delicate—was not. The old and relatively warm cave didn’t allow for it, Qiaomei Fu, a paleogeneticist at the Chinese Academy of Science’s Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology who co-authored both studies, tells Scientific American’s Tom Metcalfe.

Even without genetic information, the findings are significant. The forearm fragment—the first of this bone ever found belonging a Denisovan—shares some similarities with arm bones of Neanderthals, but its overall shape corresponds more closely to those of modern humans. It “likely provided functional advantages for lightweight, precise manipulation,” Fu tells Live Science’s Kristina Killgrove.

Additionally, the team unearthed more than 1,300 stone and bone tools. The layers of earth they were found in suggest hominins lived at the site between 70,000 and 190,000 years ago. Since the researchers did not see evidence of any other hominins in the area, they suspect Denisovans crafted the tools. They were simpler than those made by Neanderthals at the time and were probably constructed quickly to be a “flexible adaptation,” Li tells CNN.

Pollen samples suggests that the cave was surrounded by a conifer forest, or a similar habitat, the team found. And given the cut marks and fracture patterns on recovered animal bones, which belonged to creatures like deer and water buffalo, these cave dwellers seem to have hunted and consumed large prey, which would have required a “very skillful hunting strategy,” Li tells New Scientist’s Michael Marshall.

The site offers an unprecedented look at “how Denisovans actually lived on the landscape,” Shara Bailey, a biological anthropologist at New York University who did not participate in the new research, tells Science News’ Freda Kreier. It also broadens the extinct species’ known range, given that Bianfu Cave provides the first direct evidence of Denisovans in southwestern China.

“Denisovans are becoming a bit less mysterious,” Bailey says.

Margherita Bassi is a freelance journalist and trilingual storyteller. Her work has appeared in publications including BBC Travel, Discover magazine, Live Science, Atlas Obscura and Hidden Compass.