The complete mitochondrial DNA genome of a hitherto unknown hominin from southern Siberia has been isolated from a finger fossil fragment dating circa 40,000 years BP.
Both Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis are contemporary with this species however there is more difference, in terms of its mtDNA sequence, between it and us than there is between us and Neanderthals.
The mitochondrial (mt) DNA sequence was retrieved from a bone excavated in 2008 in Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains in southern Siberia.
The repercussions are enormous. What archaeologists thought they knew about the lineages that migrated out of Africa and when, are now blown out of the water.
With the less recent discovery of another contemporary hominid H. floresiensis in Indonesia it is obvious that until relatively recently there were more of our hominid cousins around and in the mix than was thought.
Found at LA Times
Nature article
