A mysterious human jaw discovered off the coast of Taiwan doesn’t belong to our species or Neanderthals, but to another extinct relative, Denisovans.
In a new study, researchers used a cutting-edge technique that analyzes proteins to determine which species the jawbone belonged to, which had been a mystery since its discovery in the early 2000s off the west coast of Taiwan. Their approach showed that the individual was Denisovan Neanderthals Pleistocene epoch
“The same technique can and is being used to study other hominin fossils to determine whether they too are Denisovans, Neanderthals or other hominin populations,” study co-author Frido Welker
Welker and an international team of experts wanted to better understand the Penghu 1 jawbone, a specimen that was netted by a fisherman from the floor of the Penghu Channel, roughly 15.5 miles (25 kilometers) off the west coast of Taiwan. In the decade since Penghu 1 was documented Homo erectus Homo sapiens
Denisovans are extinct human relatives who lived at the same time as Neanderthals and Homo sapiens . But unlike Neanderthals, whose bones have been found throughout Europe and western Asia for more than a century, Denisovans are mostly known from DNA, since only a handful of fossils
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Another view of the jawbone. (Image credit: Yousuke Kaifu)
Using the relatively new technique of paleoproteomics Science
“It wasn’t possible to make real meaning of this specimen even 8 or 9 years ago,” Sheela Athreya
An illustration of what the male Denisovan represented by the Penghu 1 jawbone might have looked like. (Image credit: Cheng-Han Sun)
Dating conundrum
One limitation to the new study, however, is that Penghu 1 can’t be dated confidently using traditional methods such as carbon-14 or uranium dating
Animal bones found with the jawbone suggest two age ranges, Welker said — either 10,000 to 70,000 years ago or 130,000 to 190,000 years ago. “If the specimen falls into the younger age range, it could potentially be the youngest Denisovan found to date,” he added. Currently, the youngest Denisovan fossil
But even with the uncertainty in exact dates, the identification of Penghu 1 as a Denisovan shows that these groups were widely distributed throughout Asia, from frigid regions like Siberia to warm and humid areas like Taiwan.
A map showing the distribution of Denisovan fossils, along with two views of the Penghu 1 fossil jawbone. The map shows what the coastline looked like when sea levels were at their lowest. (Image credit: Takumi Tsutaya)
“It is now clear that two contrasting hominin groups – small-toothed Neanderthals with tall but gracile mandibles and large-toothed Denisovans with low but robust mandibles,” the researchers wrote in the study, “coexisted during the late Middle to early Late Pleistocene of Eurasia.”
This conclusion shines a light on the diversity and evolution of Homo , and the researchers’ next steps will be to use paleoproteomics to identify more archaic bones from the genus.
“The meaningful result of this work is that we can do so much more with previously unprovenienced fossils found in channels and riverbeds in Asia,” Athreya said. “That’s exciting!”
Editor’s note: This story was first published on April 10, 2025.
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