Started by scientists to conduct research and survey since 2018, this narrow cave is where the latest fossil is believed to be of Denisovans – the extinct “ghost homo”.
The fossil is a tooth belonging to a girl between 4 and 6 years old, dating from 130,000 years old to 164,000 years old.
The researchers compared the ridges and dips on the tooth with other fossilized teeth belonging to archaic humans and found it didn’t resemble teeth belonging to Homo sapiens or Homo erectus — an archaic human that was the first to walk with an upright gait whose remains have been found across Asia.Â
The cave find most closely resembled a tooth found in a Denisovan jawbone found on the Tibetan plateau in Xiahe county, in Gansu province, China.Â
However, because of the humid conditions caused by the weather in Southeast Asia, the DNA in the tooth was not well preserved, so scientists could not find out more or have definitive evidence that this tooth 100% belongs to the Denisovans. Some said it could belong to a Neanderthal – ancient human species have many similarities, but when considering theories and evidence, scientists say the possibility that it belongs to Denisovans is still the highest, almost certainly.
According to edition.cnn.com, reuters.com
