Siberian Cave Yields Oldest Fossils Belonging to Enigmatic Human Species - Gizmodo
A total of five human fossil fragments were recovered: three belonging to Denisovans, one from a Neanderthal, and one that could not be identified.
The layer containing the Denisovan bones was dated to roughly 200,000 years old.Previous Denisovan fossils were dated to between 122,000 and 194,000 years old, so these are now the oldest.
The lone Neanderthal bone was dated to between 130,000 and 150,000 years ago.
The three new Denisovan fossils add to the six already discovered, including a finger bone from which DNA was extracted and a mandible found in a cave on the Tibetan Plateau—the first and only Denisovan fossil found outside of Siberia.These three Denisovan bones will likely produce more science in the years to come, as will Denisova Cave in general.