Nature study places the Xujiayao fossils of China in the Denisovan lineage

27 October 2026

A study published in the journal Nature reports a palaeoproteomic analysis of hominin material from Xujiayao in China, an assemblage dated to about 199 to 138 thousand years ago. Proteomic analysis of two specimens identified 18 endogenous proteins, and the Denisova-specific COL1A2-996 mutation strongly supported their affiliation with the Denisovan lineage. The authors say shared morphological traits place Xujiayao and Harbin together with Jinniushan, Dali and Hualongdong in the same lineage. They describe Denisovans as distinctive, with a low cranial profile with near-parallel lateral walls, a massive supraorbital torus, a flat zygomaxillary region and weak prognathism, and as sharing some features with Homo erectus and others with modern humans and late Neanderthals.