Under the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41988101, 42325103, 42130502, 42001086, 42301171), a team led by Professor Dongju Zhang from Lanzhou University and Professor Fahu Chen from the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with domestic and international scholars, conducted a systematic analysis of the abundant animal bone remains excavated from the Baishiya Karst Cave on the Tibetan Plateau. The related research findings, entitled "Middle and Late Pleistocene Denisovan subsistence at Baishiya Karst Cave," were published in the journal Nature on July 3, 2024 (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07612-9).

Denisovans, who lived from around 280,000 to 55,000 years ago based on earlier studies, were an extinct archaic hominin group closely related to Neanderthals, who lived from around 430,000 to 40,000 years ago and were found throughout modern Europe. Denisovans and Neanderthals share a sister relationship and both had gene flows with modern humans. Currently, the Baishiya Karst Cave is one of the two confirmed Denisovan sites and one of the earliest archaeological sites on the Tibetan Plateau.

The research team used traditional zooarchaeology and palaeoproteomics to study over 2,500 animal bones from the Baishiya Karst Cave. They identified more than 20 vertebrate species, including woolly rhinoceros, wild yak, wild horse, blue sheep, spotted hyena, and so on. This study reveals the Middle Pleistocene to the Late Pleistocene faunal composition and evolution on the Tibetan Plateau for the first time. This study also sheds light on how the Denisovans utilized animal resources. Denisovans had a wide-ranging diet, consuming herbivores, carnivores, birds and so on. They engaged in various carcasses processing and consuming behaviors, such as skinning, dismembering, defleshing, and marrow extraction. Additionally, they attempted to use bones to make simple tools, demonstrating their fully utilization of available animal resources. Additionally, using palaeoproteomics method, from the over 2,000 bone fragments which lack morphological identification features, they identified a human rib fragment. Further shotgun proteomic analysis indicates that this human bone is belonged to a Denisovan. Previous dating results of the layer where the human fossil comes from, suggest that the age of this newly discovered Denisovan rib fossil is around 48,000 to 32,000 years ago. This extends the latest known survival date of Denisovans from around 55,000 years ago to around 40,000 years ago, shedding new lights on the study of the relationship of Denisovans and modern humans in East Asia.

This study reveals the Denisovans' subsistence strategies on the Tibetan Plateau for the first time and reports a new Denisovan fossil, providing reliable evidence for understanding their activity history and adaptation strategies on the plateau.

Figure. A recovery image of the Middle to Late Pleistocene fauna in the Ganjia Basin, where the Baishiya Karst Cave is located.